When Worlds Collide
by Harmonic Death
Summary: This story takes place in the world of Hyrule (Zelda series) but in a mix of events (and evil), a nearby planet comes slowly plummeting to Hyrule. Kind of a crossover of Zelda/FF7. Twelve chapters up so far, but I'm still working on it. Please R
1. Default Chapter

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
Hyrule Market was busy. Nothing was abnormal as it seemed. Bomb sellers and bow trainers alike all shouted out they're store windows for people to come and visit. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The buildings were all made of wood and stone and were of very fine craftsmanship. What could one expect from the king of Hyrule? Luxury was his middle name, and everything was built to specification. It was the ideal place to live in the land of Hyrule. As the evening rolled around, the pointy shadows of the castle pillars and towers laid themselves across the town. It was such beautiful scenery that Impa was almost taken aback by its grandeur. "I see it every day, but I never actually see it. Such a perfect place since the end of Ganondorf's reign." The middle aged Shiekah woman walked down the main plaza towards the beautiful castle lying beyond the hills. Her purple and black uniform blended in with the shadows well. As she passed the castle gates, her boots left faint prints in the dirt path. "Something feels wrong though." She turned swiftly to look behind her, but found nothing. With a sigh and a hand to her forehead, she started to the main chamber once again. Her beautiful silver hair fluttered in the wind as she paced slightly faster. It was tied back into a ponytail behind her head, obviously for fighting purposes. She was a woman of war and protection. "Now I'm just trying to get to Zelda before anything happens. Something is very wrong. I can feel it." She watched the beautiful paintings on the wall as she headed down a long corridor of the castle, towards the young princess's room. They were all pictures of the royal family and of high ranked nobles. She stopped when she came across the painting of a young Shiekah man. He looked just like Link only this man was about seven or eight years older and had silver hair. It was styled just like Link's bangs and he even had a white Kokiric hood. His tunic was made of a beautiful white fabric, and strapped all of his body was beautifully engraved body armor. The picture compelled Impa for a slight few seconds until she heard a high pitched scream erupt from Princess Zelda's room. She gasped and broke to a dead sprint to the teenager's room. She grabbed a torch from the hall and lit the tall brazier in the fifteen-year old princess's room. As the light of the flame traveled to the far corners of the large bedroom, Impa noticed the shadow of a man lurching away from the thrashing girl in the bed. He started for the window swiftly but was tackled to the floor by the smaller woman. He tried to throw her off but butted him in the head with the hilt of her large dagger. He went unconscious almost instantly. "Your Highness! Are you okay?" Impa hit the intruder again for safety purposes and dashed to the girl's bed. Zelda was crouched up under her covers against the headboard of her bed. Tears streamed down her soft face as she rocked back and forth holding her legs against her. Impa brushed the young girl's blonde hair back and held onto her to comfort her. "What did he do to you?" "He.he.he.he tried to do something to me. I don't know." Zelda wiped her face of the drying tears and wiped her petite hands on the ripped fabric of her white gown. Impa's eyes grew furious. She jumped up from the bed and kicked the man square in the groin. Even in his unconscious state, the man felt the searing pain of his bruised genitals and groaned in pain. "Yeah! Remember that the next time you try to rape an innocent young girl you sick bastard!" Impa apologized to Zelda for her harsh words and drug the beaten rapist out of the girl's room. She sighed in relief. If she had been even a slight second too late. Zelda locked her window and barred it tightly. That was the last time she was ever going to leave her window open at night. Even if it was musty in the room. Impa ordered two lance bearing knights to stand guard at the princess's doorway as she slept.  
  
The night was dark and animals howled within the depths of its eeriness as a boy made his way home. The forest surrounding Hyrule was always a dark eerie place but the sense of evil and malevolent spirits was especially thick. In the distance the deep hoot of an owl caused the young warrior to jump and unsheathe his small sword in surprise. Ready for anything, he always was. After his bright blue eyes sensed no danger he slowly began to sheath the blade. It was beautifully crafted. A very foreign design to the Hylians the sword was. It had a finely detailed hilt. Stretching three feet from the top of the hilt was a golden and silver blade that seemed to twist in a wavering fashion. It was his new weapon that the boy had received while in the foreign land of Termina. He continued on through the deep, dark, forest bravely. He had made this trip about a week ago. His life had been one big adventure ever since the Great Deku Tree had summoned him in the Kokiri Village. As he walked, the fifteen-year old swordsman's brown Kokiri boots crunched leaves and snapped twigs. His green Kokiri tunic wavered in the cool breeze whistling between the trees, and his green hood trailed behind him almost like a tail from the back of his blonde head. The beautiful golden hair trailed down the sides of his face. His features were almost pretty, in the sense that he was possibly too young to be called handsome. He snapped his fingers and a beautiful white horse came from behind him. He patted the young horse on the head and climbed up on its back. His horse had been following him as bravely as he had been leading the entire trip. "We're almost home Epona." The boy whispered to the animal. The horse snorted as a reply and they kept going. The light reflecting off of the leaves seemed to get lighter and lighter as they continued. Finally the sky could be seen almost perfectly through the leaves and they burst out of the massively huge forest in a strong gallop to the field. "Finally back."  
  
In the massive royal castle of Hyrule everything was silent. A young princess with beautiful golden hair walked down the long red rug towards her father sitting upon the throne. His long white beard draped over his slightly large belly and he focused his spectacles to see her clearly. "What is wrong my daughter.Zelda?" "Father I'm having the dream again." Zelda brought a hand to her forehead and sighed. Her long white and pink dress settled around her small body. The golden Triforce symbol on her dress glimmered in the light. "Link must return soon.we need him." "He will come.and if not, we have built our army much since Ganondorf was put away. We can hold him off for long enough if he escapes." The king got up and hugged his prophecy- foreseeing daughter. "Don't worry Zelda, everything will turn out fine.it will be okay if Link cannot help us." ".Its not just.that." the young princess spoke under he breath. Her elder father didn't notice the struggle within her.  
  
***  
  
The fields were different. Link walked upon the crunchy, sun -baked grass of the Hyrule field as he lead Epona to the Zora River to drink of its crystal waters. He to scooped some water into his hand and sipped it. His forehead wrinkled and he tossed the rest of the water back in the small river. "Even the water tastes dull today.this is odd." He turned to Hyrule Castle and back at Epona. "I'm not ready to go back yet. Let's go back home for a little while. We should unpack some of this stuff from Termina, Epona. Link got on the horses back and the two blasted off to Kokiri Village. Night time was quickly falling as they made they're way. Poes and Stalfos Children slowly began to appear as they made they're way with haste. Epona was able to run right through them and kill them with one blow of her powerful hooves. Link grinned as they slowly backed off with respect for Epona's horsepower. Little did the young boy know that a giant Stalfos Child had risen from the ground and was running madly for the duo.  
  
"What was that growl.?" Link turned his head just in time to see a giant set of bony claws slash past his face. One of the skeleton's fingers snagged his tunic and pulled him off of the horse. Link shot up angrily. He stared at the moonlight glimmering off of the giant skeleton's bones. The red, glowing eye sockets burned with madness as it screamed and slashed without any sense of coordination. "Please. Come on you overgrown excuse for a challenge. I eat fish bones sharper than those claws of yours." The creature went into a rage and slashed at the young boy, but Link was too quick. He cleverly dodged the giant hand and sliced it off in one fluid motion of his beautiful Gilded Sword. The skeleton screamed violently as it tried to reattach its severed limb. In a bored fashion the Hylian/ Kokiri boy shot the creature's giant skull head off with his slingshot. "They don't understand that I have fought things so much greater than them before.sad." Link climbed onto Epona's back once again and they finished they're journey to the boy's home. As they neared the giant, hollowed out log that acted as a doorway to the Kokiri children's village, Link tied his horse to a tree and stepped through. Instantly he recognized the familiar aroma of the forest. He had smelled it all of his life. It was sweet and organic. Pure, it was.to an extent. Everything still seemed to have the eerie ray of evil upon it though. Just like back then.when He began his attack  
  
***  
  
The knights in the King's chamber knelt they're heads in respect for the Gerudo king that had just entered the room. The Hylian King always accepted Ganondorf's meeting proposals. Gangondorf made giant strides to the king's throne where he knelt to a knee and bowed his head before the elder man. Ganondorf was a monstrosity of a man. Almost seven-feet tall he towered above all men. There was only one male in the Gerudo clan at any given time and he was The Man. No one stood in his way and no one tried if they wanted to live. For some odd reason, Ganondorf had chosen to be at the king's aid though. The smaller guards stared from behind they're steel masks at the great man. He had short, flaming red hair, dark olive complexioned skin, massive muscles, and a long narrow nose that the Gerudo clan was known for. His shoulders were well covered by a huge set of shoulder armor and the rest of his body was covered by a brown, armored fighting suit. His forehead, hands, chest, and shoulders were adorned with beautiful stones and sheathed on the back of his right leg was an average sized sword. The echoes from his heavy, armored combat boots still lingered in the room. His mad eyes looked up violently as the king asked him what he wanted. Ganondorf laughed and stood up slowly. The powerful sorcerer began to walk over to the king with an arrogant evilness with each step. A knight leapt towards Ganondorf when he saw him reach for the broadsword sheathed on his calf. The smaller knight grabbed Ganondorf's arm to stop him but found his head caved in by a giant fist. The heavily armored chamber knight dropped dead on contact and the others followed his lead. Ganondorf slaughtered all of the Hylian knights that attempted to stop him.  
  
After speaking evilly to the king, Ganondorf unsheathed the sword and stabbed the powerful ruler in the heart with it. The Gerudo king slowly ripped out the jagged blade while the king sputtered in shock and pain, dying slowly. With a mad cackle, Ganondorf threw the small man across the room, nearly painting the walls with his blood, and walked out of the room to capture the princess.  
  
***  
  
That was how the water tasted and the air smelled. It tasted like a millennia of blood, pain, suffering, crying, and war. One single man, who always seemed to gain the title 'King of Evil', always caused the odd feeling. One man seemed to do this. One man alone. Link shook his head as if to detest the thoughts and headed to his home. Leaves fell. It was the time of the year when all of the leaves in Kokiri forest turned brown and red and began they're descent to the ground. The Kokiri children cavorted about, playfully and carelessly as the crunchy, dead, plant life fell to the ground. They were all children, yet not in the same sense. It was as if they lived life without fear of age, yet they still developed a sense of ethic, and responsibility during they're lives. They still were children and they all loved to play in the leaves. As they laughed and enjoyed the changing season a boy entered the forest. He wore the same Kokiri clothes as the rest of them but he was older. As they were of about the age of ten or so, he was around fifteen. His blonde hair protruded from his green hood in two long bangs that draped to his jawbone. His beautiful blue eyes gleamed with compassion as he strode into the village. He seemed like a knight wearing a squire uniform as he made his way past all of the other villagers. They turned they're gaze to him as he wordlessly headed past them and towards a tree house in the small village. "Link came back, guys. I don't believe it. I never thought we would see him again." All the Kokiri children greeted him as he headed through the small village. The large, round, mirror shield on his back glinted in the faint sunlight shining through the thick forest. The frightening face carved on the golden and silver surface seemed to strike fear in the young people. Some of them stayed away from Link. "Man its good to be back home. I need to unpack this stuff and get some rest." Link spoke to himself as he slung the large satchel off of his back and dropped it on the floor. It made a loud clank as it collided with the wooden floor of his tree house home. It was a very cozy place and the only things that really occupied it were a bed, and an empty treasure chest. The blonde haired boy kicked open the chest and began pulling things out of the satchel. "Man I collected a lot of stuff from Termina. This stuff will be useful if I have to fight again." He pulled out a sword slightly smaller than the Gilded Sword on his back and examined it. It had a shiny orange stone in its small handle and the wide, razor-like blade shined grandly. Link hung the small Razor Sword on the wall underneath his Kokiri Sword and reached for his other things. Next he retrieved a bundle of different types of masks from the large brown satchel. He examined each one as he put them in the trunk. "I never thought all these masks would be so useful." Memories flooded back as he pulled out the red postman's hat that had been given to him to deliver mail and the All-Night mask which allowed anyone to stay awake all night. Next in line was the exploding blast mask, the camouflaging stone mask, the made up Great Fairy mask, the foxy Keaton mask, and the feathery Bremen mask. The next mask was one of his favorite masks, the ridiculous looking yet very useful bunny hood. Following these was the Don Gero mask, his Terminian friend Kafei's mask, the truth- telling mask of truth, and the disturbing, pig-like mask of scents. He organized them and then pulled out the Circus Leader's mask, the couple's mask, the Kamaro dancer's mask, and the ugly, dead Gibdo mask. After these were the ninja Garo mask, the skeleton-like captain hat, and the size increasing giant's mask. "That's all of those.wait, there are still four more in here." Link pulled out the last four masks that he had forgotten about. Each one had a significant place in his Termina adventure and he couldn't believe he had let them slip his mind. They were of the most important masks out of all of them. One was the creepy looking Deku mask, which turned a person into a little Deku. The next was the powerful Goron mask, which turned someone into a giant Goron with powerful muscles. Next in line was the scaly Zora mask, which turned a person into a fast swimming Zora. Of those three, he had used before. If not for these three masks alone he wouldn't be standing alive at the moment. But the fourth mask he hadn't used. Majora kept him on his toes in the end of his Termina adventure, making it almost impossible to test out the mask. The last mask was the Fierce Deity mask. Its face was tattooed with battle markings and it had silver hair that looked much like Link's own hair. The face was, without a doubt, of the race of people known as the Sheika. The silvery hair gave it away instantly. But, as Link examined the mask, he noticed that the face had glowing white eyes. He stared into them ominously. The lifeless pools stared back without any sort of comprehension of the outer world. He set the mask into the chest slowly and almost with a sense of respect for the piece of wood. The golden haired boy shook his head and reached into his bag to finish emptying it. Exiting the satchel next was a golden bow and a quiver of arrows. He looked at his old Fairy Bow hanging on the wall and back at the prettier bow in his hand. The Fairy Bow was a little bit bigger than the Hero Bow in his small hand. Link shrugged his shoulders and set the bow in the chest. After making more room in the nearly full chest, Link produced the new golden Hookshot he had obtained at the Gerudo Fortress in Termina. It was smaller than his other Hookshot and supreme Longshot and was plated with a shiny gold that matched his Hero Bow. Link closed the chest and locked it tightly with a heavy bolt and stood up tiredly. It had been a long journey from Termina. He had fought many devils on the journey home and he was very tired. He stretched and yawned loudly as he turned towards his bed. As he looked at the wall he examined and noticed that he was one sword short on the wall. He knew he had another sword somewhere, but couldn't remember exactly in his dreary state of mind. He counted down from the Kokiri Sword, to the Razor Sword, to the Giant's Knife, and finally the Biggoron Sword. With a sigh of annoyance he remembered the last blade he was forgetting and walked outside to Epona and untied a massive sword from her leather saddle. He looked down at the purple, orange, and green sword he had lugged off of the horses back. It was very shiny and wide, made of several types of crystalline stone. On the green center of the giant blade there were black roses etched into the stone. It gleamed like a shiny new rupee. He didn't really seem to care for the large colorful sword to much as he drug its weight into his tree cottage and hung the massive blade that compared to the Biggoron Sword in power and size on the wall. That completed his collection. He examined the wall above his small headboard and gleamed with pride at his two favorite shields and the first shield he ever owned. The first and least favorite shield he had was his wooden Deku shield. The second shield was the grand Hylian Shield. It had the beautiful, golden Triforce symbol molded to its surface and was adorned with a large red bird, spreading its grand, fiery wings. The last and favorite shield was the reflective Mirror Shield. The beautiful red- rimmed shield was as shiny as a mirror and had a star inside of a crescent moon etched in its magic reflecting surface. He loved the shield that's origins were unbeknownst to anyone. He had never seen one like it. Link discontinued his reminiscing of his past battles and dropped to the small hay filled bed. He kicked his small Kokiri boots off and untied his Gilded Sword and sheath off of his back. They hit the floor with a loud clank and he pulled the covers over his small body and drifted off to a night of dreams and much needed rest. The sun had already gone down and most of the young Kokiri people had already gone to bed. This was home. This was the way the life of the young Hero of Time would have been had he never been summoned by the Great Deku Tree. his chest rose and fell in his silent slumber.  
  
***  
  
The clouds swarmed over the castle with a violent rush of ravenous hail and lightning. They were a mixture of pure blackness and gray. It was such an opaque scene that the sun seemed to be eclipsed by a black hole, consuming all that dared come near its power. An overly tall and massive, armored man strode over the stone ground level of the Market Place. His gleaming red eyes burned with a fury that no man could comprehend. As people ran past him to escape the invasion of Redeads and Stalfos swordsmen he unsheathed his jagged broadsword and cut them down. Women, children, and even knights and men were slain into a bloody pool of death upon the dirty, stone ground. Men tried to stop him but his immense power was too great. He crushed they're skulls with his bare hands and ripped they're helpless, small bodies apart, piece by bloody piece. He was such a massive and strong man, with muscles that were the equivalent of multiple body builders put together, but his true power did not lie in his arms. He raised his palm as he reached the giant Hyrule Castle and produced a giant mass of black energy. Upon release the mass of energy fired into the castle and destroyed nearly half of it on impact, leaving fires and demons to finish the rest. His invasion was pure madness and chaos. Nothing could control the insanity that was ensuing in the great capitol of Hyrule. Black clouds foreshadowed the city's doom with ominous roars of wind and pummeling lightning bolts that seemed to rain like acid tears. As the evil leader of the chaos entered the castle he found what he was looking for. The young girl of a Princess adorned in her beautiful garments gasped with fright but held her ground as she tried to summon magic of the light. Her call of power was cut short as the red haired demon reached out and grabbed her by the throat. He lightly squeezed and she choked violently and painfully. As the life was slowly draining out of the small Princess of Hyrule an amazing thing began to happen. Everyone and everything gazed up at the sky in awe. Demons dropped their screaming, half shredded victims to stare at the magical display bursting through the black tempest of clouds. As the powerful sorcerer's large, dark-skinned hand choked the Princess he stared at the sky through the shattered roof of Hyrule Castle. A giant ray of light had burst through the clouds without warning and any evil in its path was destroyed instantly. As the sorcerer man stared at the ray of light he was filled with fury as he noticed the shape of the ray was that of a young Kokiri man with a beautiful sword of purity and a magic deflecting shield. A golden Triforce shined on his hand and in a flash of light the clouds and demons disappeared. Zelda awoke in a cold sweat and heavy breathing. She wiped her forehead of the perspiration and caught her breath. The dream kept coming back. Every night she had the same dream. It was different than the ones she had the first time Ganondorf had attacked. The destruction was so much more catastrophic. 


	2. Part 2

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
A long radio antenna slapped against the chalkboard sharply. The crack of the collision snapped any sleepy military cadets in the room to attention immediately. "Stay with me class! Now when mako energy is condensed it is biologically transformed into the solidified structure of a materia orb. Now, a materia orb may seem like just a stone with magic, if you will, contained within it, but it is much more in depth than a simple crystal." A short, spectacle-adorning man of about fifty years stood before a large class. He adjusted his golden-rimmed glasses with his left hand while he spoke and pointed to diagrams that he had drawn on the large chalkboard in front of him. "Contained within the materia orbs are, once again in theory, generations of knowledge perceived by the old inhabitants of the planet. When we use magic, which in turn is not a suitable title for such an energy force, we call upon the knowledge of the Ancients in the form of magical energy. This energy takes on the form of whatever the ancient that created it conceptualized it from. That is how we get elemental, and status magic. The origin of summon magic has yet to be proven, but speculation states that it is the contained life-forces of ancient beings that were unable to be regenerated by the planet." "Professor Gast. When you say the word regenerated, do you mean absorbed as a form of kinetic energy or actually reused by the planet?" A young cadet of about sixteen years old spoke up. He sat in the front row, as if eager to learn, and had a perplexed look upon his handsome features. The cadet had long silver hair that fell just below his shoulder blades and a set of two long bangs that draped around the corners of his odd eyes. His eyes were very peculiar and professor Gast found it difficult to focus on them directly for too long. They were bright emerald green, and glowed strongly with the power of the mako induced in his body. The only difference of his eyes than to his fellow cadets were that his pupils were catlike. As weird as it seemed though, they were quite beautiful to look at, as the girls often spent much time doing. All around, the cadet was an intimidating, sharp, young man. "Do you mean to say that the lifestream theory is of fact?" "Excellent question Sephiroth. The theory of life returning to the planet as a life force is not proven by scientific record but after researching it for many years I have come to the personal conclusion that it is the only acceptable explanation. It is more of a model observation to show how the planet works." Gast turned from his board swiftly and dabbed the antenna in the cadet's direction. "So, in reality, both of your observatory questions are effective to this study. And for the record, I do believe in the lifestream theory." "Thank you professor." Sephiroth typed a few side notes in his black laptop computer after the professor turned away. The shiny surface of the small panel gleamed as he clicked the screen shut and slid the piece of equipment into a small satchel. Professor Gast dismissed the class as the silver haired young man arose from his seat and started for the exit. "Oh, Mr. Sephiroth, if I could have a word with you before you leave I would be appreciative." The cadet nodded and headed over to the elder professor. "Yes Professor Gast?" Sephiroth tossed his hair back and walked over to the large, paper stacked desk. The young cadet was quite tall compared to the average cadet that quickly shuffled past him to reach the exit. He was about six feet tall, and his body was quite fit for someone of his age. He was well above average muscularly due to his training over the past few years. He seemed to be older than he actually was. "Well Sephiroth, I have been watching your studies over the past few years very closely. I have never had a student as successful as you have been. As I look at your attendance and point records here it is clear that you miss nothing. There are one million, two hundred thousand, and fifty three points out of one million, two hundred thousand here. It is obvious that you have never missed a point and have over fifty extra credit points backed up. Your fighting skills are above even most of the SOLDIERs that we have here at Shinra Incorporated." Gast clicked the small mouse in his right hand and brought up more records. "Your fighting skills are what I am most interested though. It appears you have excellent knowledge of many types of weaponry, specifically the sword. Your overall analysis percentages rate you as having an astonishing ninety nine percent degree of the entire university of Shinra. That means that your statistics eclipse ninety nine percent of our cadets. The one percent difference is just the minority of dropouts." Gast focused his spectacles and Sephiroth crossed his arms. "So what is it that you needed me for?" "I want you to stop gaining all of these useless Master Degrees at this university and move onto the ranks of SOLDIER. I'm setting up a time tomorrow to have you take the final exam and test out of this university." Gast sighed and looked up from the humming computer console. Sephiroth had the happiest face he had ever seen on such a stern person. "Thank you professor!" Sephiroth's emerald eyes narrowed with determination as he saluted the elder man and exited the room. Sephiroth sprinted down the halls, his laptop barely hanging onto his shoulder. He turned a corner sharply and nearly ran a considerably cute girl over in his celebration. She huddled up away from him in shock but melted against a locker in ecstasy as he pulled her in and gave her the biggest kiss she had ever had. All of her girlfriends instantly began to shriek like girls at a boy band concert. He stopped abruptly when he came to his dorm room. The overjoyed young man fumbled with his keys excitedly as he entered the small dormitory. He slammed the door and turned on the stereo at full blast as he prepared his fighting suit and weapon for the next day. Out of the closet came a black suit of body armor that had been issued to all cadets at the start of they're freshmen year. He laid the fighting suit across a table in the corner of the room as he scanned the wall for his weapon. Hanging on the wall, held by two hooks, was a black handled Katana sword. The curved blade was casketed inside of the black sheath but it still looked vicious as he grabbed the five-foot long sword from its resting place. He placed his best materia into the materia slots of the hilt and hooked the sheath to the waist of the body armor. "Time to start building my dreams.SOLDIER."  
  
It was early morning at Hyrule Castle, and everything was just starting to get going. The shops were opening quickly so that the early bird shoppers could get an early start. Everything seemed well. The beautiful sun was just rising over the horizon of the castle, and joyfully cast it's rays upon the bustling town folk in the market. It was a sight to behold, as many people just stopped what they were doing to watch the amazing sunrise. Back at the castle, though, there was fear bursting across young princess Zelda's face. "Father, father!" Zelda burst into the king's chamber and dashed into her father's arms. He questioningly looked down at her and hugged her back. "The nightmare, the prophecy, it's back and it's closer than ever. I can hear the echoes of Ganondorf's threats and curses now! We need Link back here immediately. Ganondorf is going to escape! The sages cannot hold him for much longer!" "Ho, ho! Calm down my dear. We will send a messenger to the boy immediately if you really believe that this is about to happen." The king patted her daughter on the back. Zelda leapt up and thanked her father before dashing out of the room and heading to the post office on the first floor. The beautiful, young princess threw open the creaky, wooden door and walked inside. "We need you to deliver a letter to Kokiri Forest, if you will." Zelda grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down her message quickly with a fountain pen. The postman in the office just arched an eyebrow in question but nodded with respect. "Give this to Link. Tell him that it is urgent and he must read immediately. Thank you." "Yes your highness! I will leave immediately." The postman stuffed a red hat on his messy brown head and scuffled out of the room the instant she handed him the letter. Zelda walked out of the room and headed down the large stone stairs that lead out of the castle. None of the knights paid attention to her departure. They just stood silently around the courtyard. The young princess pattered down the dirt path towards the main gateway to the market. A slight breeze cut through the small valley as she made her way and tossed her beautiful golden hair about. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, taking in the aroma of the peacefulness. "Please come, Link." Zelda whispered into the wind with hope tainting her words. They drifted like an echo in the draft as she made her way towards the gateway. The knight opened the gate for the young princess and she headed into the Hyrule Market. Nobody really noticed her as she slipped inside the Temple of Time, which stood ominously in the back of the town. Her silky, pink, dress blew in her descent as she glided to the stone alter. The room was perfectly silenced. One could have heard a pin drop. The walls were crafted with finely cut stones. The gray pewter color of the bricks seemed to glow ominously all around the room. No building in the entire kingdom could have possibly matched the Temple's beauty and perfection. The alter was crafted of carven onyx gemstone and had the three spiritual stones of forest, fire, and water floating above it. There were three small placements in the stone that were glowing with the power of the spiritual stones. With all three powers united, the golden Triforce symbol glowed brightly above the doorway of time. The three golden triangles seemed to stare at the teenage girl below, staring at them. Zelda often came to this place to speak with the Sage of Light, Rauru. He was an elderly man with an impressive gut and beard of the same. His eyes told stories of millennia of war, evil, and heroes. Zelda mentally connected inside the Temple of Light to speak with the elder Sage. "Are you in there Rauru?" "Yes Zelda. I am here as always." Rauru's booming voice echoed in Zelda's mind through the telepathy connection. "What do you need?" "I can hear you struggling in my dreams, Rauru. How much longer do we have before Ganondorf escapes?" Zelda rubbed her temples as she awaited the powerful sage's strained reply. Rauru was the only sage left in the Temple of Light. He was the only sage left to keep Ganondorf held within his cell in the evil realm. "Yes princess. The power of this evil has grown tenfold since we placed him in there. It has only been a year since we sealed the portal to the evil realm and he has already almost broken the seal." Rauru cried out in pain as Ganondorf fought against the gateway. Zelda began to sweat as she heard the commotion. "I can't.hold him.for very much.longer." "Hang on Rauru, don't let him defeat you!" Zelda shouted as she felt the sage's power begin to fade. "Summon Link.I can't hold on.for much.longer." Rauru broke the telepathy transmission with his plea. Zelda leapt to her feet. It was late. She must have been meditating for several hours to keep such a long telepathic wave. She straightened out her wrinkled dress and headed out of the temple. Sun was down and people were just beginning to close they're shops.  
  
The night was silent. Link stood atop the castle like a gargoyle. His beautiful Master Sword dripped with blood like a river of death. Ganondorf's slain body lay before him in a pile of dead meat. He had sliced him to pieces, his hatred vented through the edge of his sword. "Finally." "Mr. Link! There is a message from the princess of Hyrule for you. It is urgent she says. Read immediately!" The postman had just reached the Kokiri Forest by ten PM. He thought that it was ridiculous that he had to deliver letters for children but his duty was to serve the royal family, and that he did. Link walked out of his sleeping quarters and yawned. His hood had fallen off and his should length hair fell around his face and ears. He squinted to see who it was and did a front flip off of the high balcony of his small home and landed before the man. It was a twenty- foot drop but he was skilled at landing like a feline. The postman scratched his head and walked out of the woods after Link thanked him. He was amazed at the versatility the kid had. He reminisced when he was young and could move around easily. Now he was middle aged and wearing a red hat. He started his two- hour walk back to the castle. "An urgent letter from Zelda that must be read immediately? Good timing on her part considering I just got back." Link opened the small envelope and unfolded the letter. It read:  
  
Dear Link,  
  
I am terribly sorry to greet you home with this kind of news but Ganondorf has almost broken the seal to the evil realm. In a matter of days he could escape and destroy us all. Rauru has commented that his evil power has increased tenfold. It is undoubted that we need your help. As the Hero of Time, putting Ganondorf away the first time, it is my request as the princess of Hyrule that you take the Master Sword once again and stop the King of Evil. Please Link. You are our only hope.  
  
Sincerely Princess Zelda  
  
"Oh my god. This can't be happening. I must hurry to the Temple of Time before the seal breaks." Link quickly climbed the long wooden ladder that lead to his room and threw open the curtains viciously. "I need to get some equipment quickly." The blonde haired boy grabbed his red- rimmed Mirror Shield off of its hook on the wall and strapped the heavy shield to his back. He kicked his chest open and grabbed his red and blue tunics and tossed them, along with his Golden Gauntlets into the satchel he had just unloaded them from only a few hours ago. He tossed his three magic crystals into the bag and did the same with his Longshot and Fairy Bow. From his sword display he grabbed his Gilded Sword and sheathed it on his back. Before dashing out of his home he threw his four special masks into the bag. The barely fit with all of his belongings stuffed inside the satchel. Link dashed outside and leapt off of the edge of his balcony. He landed with ease and headed toward the large, hollowed out tree trunk that acted as an entrance and exit to the large forest. Moss seemed to grow out of every little crack and crevice in the old wooden hole. Link paid no heed to the sights of the forest as he awakened Epona from her resting place next to the large log. Dew covered her brown back and some leaves were stuck to the moisture. Link groomed the mess from her fur before getting on her strong back and heading her to the castle. "I can't believe he is going to escape. I thought he was there for good. I guess I thought wrong. Why was I chosen to be the Hero of Time? What was so special about me?" Link shook his blonde head and rolled his pretty blue eyes. "Everybody thinks that it would be so cool to be a hero, but it's just a bunch of hard work. Fighting, bleeding, sweating, and death are all that come out of being a hero. I mean I don't even get to keep a cool sword like the Master Sword when I'm done. Instead I'm left with. a Great Fairy Sword." Young Link shuddered at the thought of the ugly sword that he had been rewarded with in Termina. "That sword is so stupid looking its not even funny. You know that Epona? Anyway, back to Ganondorf. I have to stop him as soon as he escapes. Just hopefully that doesn't happen before I get to the Temple of Light." Link and Epona rode off into the moonlit field further. The arrival of Stalchildren, and Poes had already increased by a lot, and Ganondorf hadn't even escaped yet. Link and Epona avoided the evil monsters as they made they're way to the castle. This was going to be another nightmare, and Link knew it. Ganondorf had planned his scheme well obviously. It was unheard of to escape the Evil Realm, but Link was getting faint reverberations as Ganondorf's minions increased so rapidly. "This is bad."  
  
Shinra headquarters was massive. With several hundred, randomly lit, office windows lining each floor of the massive tower, Shinra Headquarters was the largest building in the world. The Headquarters was only the hub of the massive city of Midgar though. Midgar was considered to be the capital of the planet. The city alone was about the size of a large island. The entire city was actually split in two, horizontally though. The city above was held up by massive pillars. The pillars held up another main component of Midgars structural design, the plates. Otherwise known as Sectors, the plates were actually cities within a huge city. There were eight sectors altogether and each was connected to a massive mako reactor that powered the city and ultimately, Midgar itself. Below, however, there was a slum set of interconnected sectors. They were all dirty and filled with scrap. Thousands of poor people lived in the slums. Crime rate was more than triple that of the city above. Most of the strongest people in Midgar lived in the slums. They were forced to fight to stay alive, ever since they were children. Sephiroth sat quietly among several other test-taking cadets inside of the huge headquarters. There was a First Class SOLDIER Officer sitting at a desk awaiting them to finish taking they're tests of admittance. It was considered an honor to even remotely pass the test. Few people did, but Sephiroth seemed to breeze through it easily. It all seemed basic to him. There were fighting questions, such as how to block with a certain weapon and when not to attack with another. It was all just a review of all the skills he had already mastered. The magic was of the easiest portion. He was so skilled with materia and weaponry that he rarely was hit by an enemy. He had eventually gained immunity to status bearing magic over his years of training and elemental damage was almost seventy percent ineffective against his body. The last question that the test asked was 'What do you most wish to accomplish by joining the SOLDIER program. List as many objectives as needed.' Sephiroth had written three things down. His first goal was to obtain his ultimate weapon. His second goal was to learn the most powerful limit break, and his third goal was stated blatantly. His third goal was to eclipse every record and become the most skilled fighter on the planet. Sephiroth brushed his long silver hair back and handed his test in before any of the others had even finished. The test was over fifty pages long but he had definitely completed it all as the officer checked everything. An hour later, everyone had completed the test and were waiting quietly in they're seats. Another SOLDIER, in his middle twenties, of much higher rank walked into the room coolly as the officer was stacking the papers swiftly. The officer snapped up and saluted the higher ranked man instantly and handed him the papers. Within minutes the noble SOLDIER looked up from the tests and pointed to three of the seven young cadets. The three, including Sephiroth arose and saluted sharply. Sephiroth studied the man who had just ordered him, with his catlike green eyes. The man was tall, at about six foot three, and had long black hair. The shiny locks were combed back tightly into a mane down his back. Long hair meant high rank. The longer a man's hair was, the longer he had been in the military. His SOLDIER uniform consisted of a rank belt engraved with an emblem, a set of black fighting pants, sleek leather combat boots that fit perfectly to the knee, mythril armlets attached to each forearm, a black ski sweater that fit tightly to his strong frame, and two silver bangles covering each shoulder. His eyes were glowing brightly with the mako energy as he studied his new recruits. "I am General Rayze of SOLDIER. I am the current Top Officer. As you know there is only one Top Officer in all of SOLDIER and that title only goes to the most powerful fighter. I am here to give you your final exam. It will be a one on one dual with me in the training facility this afternoon. You may use any weapon you wish against me besides a gun because a gun is dishonorable and does not exploit true fighting ability. So without further ado, you are dismissed. The rest of you who did not pass the test will be taken back to the university to continue on with your studies" "You have the rest of the morning to prepare for your tests. Meet me at the training floor at twelve PM sharp. If you are even a nanosecond late you fail and will be escorted back to Shinra University. Dismissed." General Rayze saluted sharply and turned on a heel towards the doorway. He carried the files of all of the boys in the room. The ones who had failed had ashamed looks upon they're faces as they were escorted out of the room by the officer. Sephiroth paid no mind to the other two cadets who had passed the test. He exited the room and sat on a bench in the front lobby of the massive building. He placed a hand on the hilt of his black Katana at his side and unsheathed the finely crafted sword. The ten- inch handle was traditionally wrapped with black grip. Materia slots were cut out between the diamond-shaped areas where the grip material crisscrossed. In each of the four materia slots there was a mastered materia of Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth. Sephiroth buffed any fingerprints off of the beautifully crafted, curved Katana blade. Satisfied with the battle ready weapon he sheathed the fine sword into its companion sheath and tied it to his belt. His body armor glinted in the light as he arose and headed out to study the building that he would be spending the most part of his life at.  
  
Back at the training floor, General Rayze and Professor Gast were sitting at a computer console talking. Rayze was flipping through the tests that the three admitted cadets had just taken. The papers flicked against each other, giving off a faint clicking sound. "They are three of my best. I hope they go far with you. The one I'm really betting my money on is Sephiroth though. He is a child prodigy, a phenomenon of a student." "Tell me, what is so special about him? Certainly you must know." General Rayze glanced down at the elder man. Gast paused in silence for a few moments and then replied. "Well. It seems you have noticed the conspiracy." Gast focused his spectacles and looked back up to the General of the SOLDIER squadron. "Sephiroth doesn't know it but he is the son of two of Shinra's aspiring scientists. You probably already know that I resigned as the leading scientists to Professor Hojo. That is why I am teaching at the university for extra money. My wife and I plan on moving away after we get enough money." "And this makes him special how, do you presume?" "Special is not the word. Technically he was just given an early start. Hojo had plans when he got his wife, Lucrecia, pregnant. While Sephiroth was still in the woman's womb, they injected a small set of Jenova cells into his blood stream. When he was born they showered him in mako, just as if he were a SOLDIER. If you haven't noticed, he was the only cadet with mako eyes." Gast glanced back to the computer, which showed statistics of the boy. "That is sick and deceiving. How could they do this to but a helpless child?" Rayze cracked his knuckles as he remembered how odd Professor Hojo had seemed during all the times he had spoken with him. "And this is kept secret why?" "It's kept secret because the results haven't completely been shown yet. It is deceiving but what Shinra plans on reaping from the efforts will be grand." Gast kept on reading while Rayze just stared and listened, intrigued. "No one has ever had a chance to grow naturally with mako and Jenova in they're system. Sephiroth had an early start in his SOLDIER admittance. When you guys recruit him you won't even have to mako shower him. Naturally, he has grown with the enhancements. Nothing artificial like most SOLDIERs nowadays." Rayze gave a cold glare in Gast's direction. The elder scientist hadn't even paid attention that he had just offended the great General of Shinra. "And you say that he is going to be someone important?" "Super SOLDIER is the title that Hojo spoke of. If Sephiroth succeeds he plans on creating a branch of Super SOLDIERs, possibly creating a new branch of the military with them." Gast laughed. "Watch out General Rayze because he might even take your place one day." "I doubt it. Nobody has ever compared to what I have accomplished." Rayze set the papers down on the table and headed to the door. "I have to give them they're real admittance test now. Goodbye professor."  
  
The training floor was very large. It took up the entire level of the basement. There was exercising equipment in one large room, completely lining the walls and center of the room. In the room furthest from the entrance there was a fighting simulator where you could dial in programmed atmospheres, ranging from underwater, to a thick jungle, or even an arid desert. The walls were lined with weapons of every type. The options ranged from laser bladed swords, to regular broadswords, to rifles, lances, staves and more. The three cadets just stared in awe at all the different types of armor, fighting suits, and materia that were contained within the preparation room. "This is amazing," uttered one of the young cadets. He had brown eyes and short, black hair. Another with blue eyes and brown hair nodded as he examined all of the weapons on the wall. Sephiroth just flipped his silver hair back and studied all of the Wutaian swords such as the different types of Katana, Yoshiyuki, and Murasame. There were even a few rare swords that he had only seen in books. Oriental swords such as Juntachi, Muramasa, and Kikiuimoji. They all were similar to his Katana sword. They're curved, razor sharp blades seemed to taunt competition through his eyes. They were his only weapons of choice. "I see that you all have made it here on time. If you will follow me to the fighting simulator, we will begin your individual tests." As the quartet walked into the huge room, a heavy door slid shut, locking them in. The three cadets stood in waiting as Rayze typed at a small computer console. His hands, which were fit perfectly into a black set of gloves, moved so swiftly that they were as a blur. At the click of the 'enter' button the environment changed from that of an empty room, to that of a forest. It was so realistic that the leaves actually fell from the tall trees and were swept away by the rushing breeze. "Which one of you is Mike Gonzalez?" The cadet with short black hair stepped forward instantly. He was about five foot nine inches tall and had short, spiked hair. He wore the same black body armor suit as the other cadets and had an average broadsword sheathed on his back. He sure didn't seem like anything special, Rayze was thinking as he unsheathed a duo of two beautiful Murasame swords. The ninja swords seemed to have they're own desire to kill as he pulled them into his fighting stance. One blade was held horizontally in front of him while the other blade was positioned behind his head. "Your impression upon me will decide your rank SOLDIER." Mike went deathly pale as he perceived what the General meant with his words. Mike unsheathed the four- foot sword off of his back and held it in front of him as he had been taught at the university. At the sound of an electronic bell, the fight began. The instant the bell rang, Rayze had already sliced a gash in the kid's black armor. Mike was taken aback by the speed at which the attack had come. The next time he was prepared though. He blocked one blade with his own and dove under the other as it came towards his left armlet. Rayze tripped him swiftly with a slide kick and attempted to bury one of his Murasame into the kid's shoulder. Mike swiftly cast a burst of Fire from his palm as an escape route. The flames engulfed the SOLDIER General with an exceptional display. Mike leapt out of the General's range and looked up only to see the talented fighter walk out of the flames with a grin playing across his face. "It will take more than that to take me down son." Mike ran forward with his blade and performed a triplet of slices. Rayze didn't even bother blocking the blows, he simply weaved in between them skillfully. Mike finished his attack off with a powerful downward slice of his broadsword. Rayze performed a skillful upward slice to parry the blade and succeeded in slicing the less powerful sword into two clean pieces. Swiftly switching over to his other sword, Rayze met Mike's throat with the tip of his razor sharp Murasame. "Not too bad. I'll assign you to Fifth Class." "Yes sir. Thank you sir." Mike saluted and retrieved the broken blade of his sword from the leaf-covered ground. "Oh, and you may retrieve any weapon that you wish from the wall in the next room. You are dismissed to wait in the weaponry room for us. You will be issued your equipment after we are finished." Rayze took his battle stance ten yards away from the other two and motioned for the brown haired SOLDIER recruit. "Cody Davis, the same goes for you." "Cody stepped up. He unsheathed a sword similar to Mike's, except his blade was thinner and had a longer, wooden handle. Cody took his fighting stance with his sword crossed in front of his body. His heart pounded through his chest like a rapidly firing canon. Rayze's mako enhanced hearing sensed the nervousness through the body armor that the kid wore. The bell went off and Cody instantly leapt towards Rayze with his sword poised to kill. Rayze blocked easily and spun in a circular motion with his blades, gnashing a rip in the boy's armor with both. Cody was a lot more skilled than Mike and did a reverse heel kick that only succeeded in leaving an open space for a blade jab. Cody took advantage of his opportunity and stabbed as if fencing at the long- haired Top Officer. Rayze grabbed the blade with both of his own and threw it back in Cody's face. "Damn!" Cody paced back a few steps and avoided the ripping slices that seemed to purposely come close to his face. As the finale of bouts came, Cody did a front flip over Rayze's head and sent an Ice spell pummeling from above at the General. Rayze all too easily cast a Reflect spell and disregarded the pathetically weak hail of frozen water back to its caster. Cody ducked out of the way of his own magic and blocked several blows from the other's swords. Finally Rayze stopped playing around and flicked the young SOLDIER's sword out of his hand and left him stranded. The airborne sword found its resting place in the trunk of a fallen tree as it came falling back to the ground. "Very well done SOLDIER. You held up better than most have. Your skills are easily within the Third Class rank. You may also choose any weapon of your choice from the weaponry room. Dismissed." Rayze prepared for the next fight by dousing an elixir over his body to restore any lost energy from the previous fights. When he looked up from his fighting stance, Sephiroth was already prepared. He had unsheathed his black handled Katana from the black sheath and was holding the blade horizontally. Instead of standing with the broad of his body face forward, he stood sideways as if he were the batter in a baseball game. His blade was poised horizontally, parallel with his broad shoulders. He had done his own study of fighting stances and had chosen his fighting stance due to the fact that the default way left more open to be attacked. Holding your sword vertically out in front of you degraded the speed at which attacks and guards could be made. With his fighting stance he didn't have to hold his sword ready to guard because it was already prepared to guard and attack. The stance also easily allowed him movement of his arms and a double-handed grip on his sword hilt. The electronic bell rang with a fading echo, and instantly the two SOLDIERs were clashed together. Rayze sliced in a quintuplet of crisscrossing slashes at the silver haired kid with his Murasame swords, and found each of his blows easily parried and countered by the boy's five-foot long Katana blade. Sephiroth flicked both of Rayze's blades out of the way and delivered a breathtaking spin kick to the man's stomach. Rayze softened the blow by grabbing the swift kid's leg and turning him over. Sephiroth quickly levitated off of the ground in an upside down reverse flip from his palms and fired a quick burst of Lightning Three at the powerful General. Rayze took the full-fledged blast of energy as if it were nothing and retaliated with one of his own volleys of elemental magic. In a swift burst of Earth Three and Fire Three heading towards him, Sephiroth leapt high into the air and kicked off of a tree branch. Both magical attacks missed him, as he had hoped for, but Rayze was already prepared for the airborne attack that was falling towards him. Both of the Murasame blocked the speeding Katana blade in the shape of a pair of scissors. "My god. This guy is pretty good. He's actually putting up a good fight for General Rayze." Mike and Cody watched intently as the two fighters battled it out. Within a millisecond, Sephiroth dove under the taller man and dropped his Katana to the floor. He grabbed the stronger General around the hips and tackled him backwards like football player. Falling down to the leaf covered ground on top of the fighter, Sephiroth began his onslaught of brutal punches in the man's face. After the third strike, Rayze dropped his swords and performed a Judo flip and threw Sephiroth off of him. Sephiroth landed face first a few yards away and leapt to his feet. He had a small gash in his forehead from a sharp rock but was prepared for the violent array of punches and kicks that the General already had charging at him. Few of them made it past the silver haired kid's sharp defense, but the final blow caught the underside of Sephiroth's chin and sent him soaring. Suddenly, to the General's shock, Sephiroth called upon his Jenova abilities and telekinetically pulled his Katana to his grip from across the room. "Impressive. but I'm terribly sorry." General Rayze ripped forward like a shockwave and thrashed a wave of mako energy at Sephiroth from twelve feet away. Even with Sephiroth's lightning reflexes, the wave grabbed him like a ball of gravity and threw his one hundred and sixty pound, muscular body into a tree twenty feet behind him. The fighting simulator switched off at the sound of a buzzer and Sephiroth realized that it was actually a wall that he had been thrown into. He lay on his back on the ground with a confused look on his face as General Rayze looked down at him. He leant a hand down and Sephiroth grabbed it after studying it for a moment. "How.did you. do that?" Sephiroth wiped blood from his forehead as the mako enhancements in his body sped up the healing of the wound. "In my four years of training no one has ever wiped me out in one blow like that." "That was my first level limit break. Nothing special." General Rayze did just as Sephiroth had done before his defeat and telekinetically pulled his swords to himself from across the room. Sephiroth sheathed his own Katana sword at his side and awaited the General's decision. "Extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary. I am at a loss of words to describe how well you fought Sephiroth. I'm not sure how to rank you." "Thank you sir, but what do you mean General?" Sephiroth blinked questionably. Rayze glanced at the catlike pupils and studied the mako glow around them. The mako in the boy's eyes seemed to swish around into different shades of blue and green as the mako enhanced vision took in every detail of everything. It was obvious that Sephiroth's mako enhancements went further than even Gast had studied. "SOLDIER First Class has a required age minimum of eighteen years of age. You are only sixteen. Your skills easily match that of any of the First Class SOLDIERs under my command, though." Rayze paced for a few moments as he thought. Sephiroth sighed in discontent at the news, but at the same time was overwhelmed that he would be considered into First Class. "I can however accept you as a personal student. By law of the SOLDIER program, any Top Officer can only accept one student at a time. If you train with me for just less than two more years you will be accepted. Until then you will accompany me on missions, peace agreements, and inspections. Is that acceptable enough for you? Remember, you won't be of rank." "Yes. I would be more than willing to train under you until I'm eighteen, sir." Sephiroth saluted sharply but Rayze just waved the motion off. "There will be none of that. As of now you are not in the SOLDIER program. You will continue obtaining master degrees at the university and training under me. I am only your teacher for the next two years, not a commanding officer." Rayze patted him on the back and turned to the doorway where the other two SOLDIER recruits were watching suspiciously. "Oh and you won't have to worry about flying back and forth between here and the university outside of sector four. During the fall, when the weather is so acceptable we station SOLDIER there." "So what should I do for the rest of the day," Sephiroth asked with a nod. Rayze glanced back at his new student. "I have a date tonight with a girl I met in Sector Three so we won't be training for the rest of the day." Rayze grinned mischievously as he opened the huge metal slide door. "Go scope out the girls in Sector Six. There are some real hot girls there I have heard. You know? This will be fun I believe. I always have to keep such a strict attitude around the ranks. Now maybe I can have an actual partner to loosen up around." "Yes.me too I guess." Sephiroth and Rayze straightened to they're full height as they walked out of the simulator and met with the other two Fifth and Third Class SOLDIERs. They had peculiar looks written upon they're proud faces. They were quickly erased when Rayze's eyes met they're own. "It is time for you both to undergo the mako showering. When you are done you will be severely enhanced. Your senses will pick up even the slightest environmental change such as a speck of dust falling from the ceiling or even an enemy creeping up on you in your sleep. Your hearing will be enhanced by eighty times what it is now. You will be able to hear things that you can't hear now. Your eyesight will be enhanced by ninety times. You will be able to focus as if looking through long-range binoculars. Your sense of taste, smell, and touch will be followed suit to your hearing enhancements. Eating a certain type of food may be a lot more enjoyable than it was before or exactly the opposite." "Naturally your fighting statistics such as speed, strength, magic power, endurance, dexterity, and immune system will be enhanced greatly. You should be able to jump higher, move faster, handle things ambidextrously, lift heavy objects, and cause more damage with your magical attacks. You will naturally become immune to status ailments also. You will be able to do strenuous things for very long periods of time also, therefore you will only need about an hour of rest per week." The new recruits eyes widened with excitement as Rayze explained the effects of the mako shower. "Also, along with the mako showering, you will have a small amount of Jenova Cells injected into your blood stream. These cells will give you the special abilities that only SOLDIERs are allowed to possess. You will gain the abilities of Telekinesis, Telepathy between other SOLDIERs, and the famed Supercharge ability. Those are to name a few, later on during your First Class training classes, you will learn the use of gravitational manipulation, and mind tricks. Also, your rate of learning will increase tenfold after you wake up from the process." "Don't be startled when you wake up because your muscles will be much more defined and your current eye color will be much brighter with the mako induced in the corona. Aside from the side effects, your senses will hurt very badly for the first hour and a half. You will quickly learn to block unnecessary disturbances, so don't worry about it." General Rayze walked over to a slide doorway and pushed a button. The door slid open with a hiss. "I will issue you your uniforms before you are directed to the laboratory to meet with Professor Hojo." General Rayze reached into the closet and pulled out a blue and a purple SOLDIER uniform much like his own. He handed the blue uniform to Cody and the Purple to Mike. Next from the closet he retrieved two computer-enhanced helmets. They covered the entire head and had a three hundred and sixty degree computer screen inside the thin, lens like visor view port. A small antenna protruded from the left side of the head and retrieved radio transmissions. They were very sleek looking and gave a superior air to the person wearing one. Mike and Cody accepted gratefully and dismissed to the laboratory on the higher floors of the building. "I'm going to give you a First Class uniform like mine but you will have to use your own utility belt because the SOLDIER belts signify ranks with a carven symbol. You'll get a First Class belt in a couple years." Rayze handed Sephiroth a black SOLDIER uniform like his own and started for the door. "I suggest changing before heading out because you won't get much respect with that ratty body armor you were issued at the university. I'll set you up with an apartment across from mine tonight. Just ask the secretary on the first floor for the key." "I don't even know where the apartment complex is." Sephiroth crossed his arms. "Its in Sector One. You can't miss it. Its huge." After Rayze left the room, Sephiroth changed into his new uniform in the restroom. He strapped on the shoulder bangles and leather pads underneath, and locked the heavy mythril armlets to his forearms. He studied the knee high combat boots before putting them on. They had no laces, only silver fasteners below the knee that tightened the boots perfectly to the lower half of the leg. As he put them on he noticed that they were very comfortable and versatile. He was also pleased to see that they made him an extra inch or two taller. The black ski sweater fit perfectly, defining and making his muscles intimidating to the eye. The loose fighting pants also fit well. With all of the uniform adorning him, Sephiroth looked very sleek. Before walking out of the training floor, the cat-eyed trainee tied his Katana sheath to his side. The combination of black matched his long silver hair perfectly. This was better than being a SOLDIER. Now he didn't have to take orders from people. He was training with one of the most important people at Shinra. 


	3. Part 3

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
Hyrule was almost black. Dark storm clouds overcastted the skies and threatened to thrash the market with treacherous lightning and hale. The rain poured with such force that it stung Link's eyes as he raced on Epona towards the castle. He was drenched from head to toe. He could almost feel the water drowning his soul. The faint torches that burned outside of the drawbridge cold be seen in the distance after riding for almost two hours. He had been forced to stop for a half hour earlier so that Epona could rest and get water from the Zora River. He just hoped that that half hour wouldn't let Ganondorf escape. "If he escapes before I go forward in time he could destroy the Temple of Time and leave no one to defeat him. Only the Master Sword can pierce his armor of darkness. I have to make it. Come on Epona, we're going to make it." Link pressed on faster towards the castle. As he neared the castle the storm raged even more horribly. The moat around the castle and market was flooded up to the drawbridge already and there were a couple roofs that were burning from the ravaging lightning. People ran inside from the storm, not even noticing the fires that were slowly being put out by the horrendous downpour. Link rode Epona straight into the Hyrule Market and leapt off of her back in front of the massive Temple of Time. The towers flashed with lightning and poured rain from they're steeples like a river as the blonde haired boy dashed to the entrance. The huge doorway opened with a scraping boom as they split in two and allowed him to enter. He dragged his large satchel of equipment into the massive cathedral and dropped it in front of the black stoned alter. The three spiritual stones rotated in they're magical placements in the stone ominously. Link reached into a pouch on his belt and produced the Ocarina of Time from it. With an array of beautiful notes, the young warrior masterfully played the Song of Time before the stones. The golden Triforce above the doorway of time flashed with fantastic light and the sound of grinding stone could be heard as the door of time slid open. Link dragged the heavy bag into the sacred portal to the Temple of Light that had just been opened for him. At the pedestal of time in the center of the large room there was the sacred Master Sword. Its power of light shined like a halo around its grandness. Link could hear the sounds of Ganondorf fighting the sage of light like distant echoes trailing through a mountain pass. Dropping the bag with a clank, Link brushed his soaked hair back out of his face and laid his grip upon the blue, sapphire handle of the sword. The sword was designed by the goddesses millennia ago during they're descent from the spiritual heavens. It was the most beautiful sword that Link had ever seen as he reminisced the first time he had laid eyes upon the pure blade. The reflective silver blade gleamed with razor sharpness under the halo of pure light. The blade finely dipped inward on the flat of each side. In the small valley on each side of the blade the indestructible metal became a soft shade, unlike the glasslike luster of the actual blade. Engraved at the base of the blade was a beautiful Triforce symbol. The handle base and hilt was forged of a sapphire stone that shined brightly in its crystalline beauty. Connecting the fine handle base to the perfect blade was a halved diamond of pure gold. Each side of the sword was exactly like the other and was forged perfectly. Before the sacred goddesses departed to the spiritual heavens they blessed the pure Master Sword with eternal perfection. The sword was impossible to damage. It was the only way to ensure the protection of light. Now Link was beginning to sweat. His hand seemed to freeze as he gripped the blue and green hilt. A bead of sweat fell from his forehead onto his shaking hand. With his last burst of courage, Link ripped the five-foot long sword from the pedestal of time. Instantly he felt strange emotions that he had only felt once before in his life. A blue light infiltrated the shady room and engulfed the young hero within it's sacred light. The portal to the Temple of Light opened before him and he watched as seven years passed before his eyes within minutes. Ganondorf broke the mental lock on the gateway to the evil realm one hour after he had pulled the sword from the pedestal. He burst from the highest steeple of the Temple of Time like a bat out of Hell and laughed maniacally. His long red cape and flamboyant red hair fanned around his body like a robe as he created a portal of purple energy before him. His black shoulder armor didn't even reflect any light from the lightning that struck all around him. He walked into the portal as if he were standing on the ground and disappeared. Many things flew by his line of vision. Countless attacks of monsters on the castle. Many people went into battle and never came out. It was almost like a war. Link couldn't watch anymore as he fell to the overwhelming unconsciousness that was eating at his mind.  
  
One year nine months and twenty-nine days had passed by. His birthday was tomorrow. He couldn't believe that all that time had passed by so quickly. He had accomplished so much during the pass of time though and he regretted none of the wait. He had gained every master degree at the Shinra University possible and had grown so much more powerful since his initial battle with General Rayze. He had been so bored for the past six months from not being in school that he had mastered the skills of every martial art in the Shinra database. He mastered one a week until there were no training exercises for hand to hand combat left in the database. His hand-to-hand combat was phenomenal due to the extensive study and his swordsmanship went far beyond that. He still used his trusty Katana, except now he had purchased an exact replica of the one he initially had. Rayze had eagerly taught him the use of dual swords, since that was how the General was most skilled. Now Sephiroth followed suit to his trainer, and all around best friend by using dual Katana in combat. He could fight just as viciously if not more with only one sword though. His swordsmanship now matched even that of General Rayze himself. When he and the Top Officer practiced now, neither fighter could defeat the other. Rayze had completed his training with Sephiroth soon after they began to match each other. It was impossible for him to teach the young man anymore. He had passed over all of his knowledge and skills and there was nothing left to teach. Sephiroth seemed disappointed that Rayze could teach him no more, that was why he constantly delved into the Shinra databases for new fighting styles and weapons. His personal interests kept him occupied as the days passed. He had mastered the art of swordsmanship long ago, but within the past year he had mastered other types of weaponry also. Examples of the types were basic weapons such as the staff, spear, gun, and bow. He still stayed true to his sword and only relied on his fists and feet if he didn't have one of his Katana. "Learned anything new today Sephiroth?" General Rayze walked up behind the tall young man who was deeply reading a book about molecular science and genetics. "Ah, molecular science and genetics. Very.interesting." "Yes it is. I just got done reading a quantum physics and advanced calculus book about an hour ago. It's a good read. You can take it if you want to learn some interesting things." Sephiroth didn't even look up from his study in the massive Shinra library. He had a stack of books on the coffee table next to him as high as the table itself. Rayze ran his glowing blue eyes over the spine of each book. He was bored out of his mind to see that the titles of the particularly large books were 'Construction of a Mako Reactor', 'History of the Ancients', 'Biological Cell Reproduction', 'Curative Magic', and 'Advanced Astrophysics'. "I think I'll pass. Combat is my main interest. Say, do you want to go out and grab cup of coffee or something?" Rayze glanced back at the younger man who was still reading intently in the large book. Sephiroth glanced up at the SOLDIER General and nodded. "Sure. Sounds good." Sephiroth snapped the book shut and set it down. He knew no one would disturb his study area so he left the books where they were and walked off with his friend. None of the other members of SOLDIER were allowed to call the General walking beside him by his first name but Sephiroth was privileged enough as a good friend. "Hey Jericho." "Yeah," asked the Top Officer. "What's going to happen when I get admitted to First Class tomorrow?" The young man rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as he walked to the café in Sector Two. As he walked his waist length hair caught the wind and blew behind him in a flow of molten silver. "Well. You will have to take the final exam again. It will involve dueling against the top ten First Class SOLDIERs. If you defeat them all then you will dual against me for the title of Top Officer." "What? I can't do that. You taught me everything I know. I can't try and take your rank away from you," Sephiroth's bright green eyes morphed to blue as he thought about that. The reason it worried him is he knew that he could defeat Jericho if he put his whole heart into it. But, Rayze was his friend, and he couldn't do something like that to him. It went against his morality. "It would be earned, Sephiroth. You have succeeded me anyway. It wouldn't be fair to keep you from your earned title." Jericho laughed quietly to himself. "Don't worry about it. There isn't anyone that I would rather have to take my place. At least you're my friend and not a competitor. Besides, if you don't fight me, someone else will, and there is the chance that they could get the rank. It's held annually every year and I haven't lost the championship yet." "Yeah, easy for you to say." The duo sat down at a coffee table in the café and ordered two cups of black coffee. The waitress smiled with stars in her eyes at the two and did as they requested. Sephiroth glanced out the window at the afternoon sun. He felt so dirty trying to take his best friend's military rank away. He didn't want to but he guessed he didn't have a choice. Maybe he could lose to him on purpose- "I know what you're thinking, man. You better not lose to me on purpose. You will fight with every combative instinct in your body." Rayze grinned mischievously. "Or I'll kick your ass into next week, and you know I will." Sephiroth blushed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You suck man." "I am quite the bastard I guess. Ha, ha, ha." Rayze chuckled at his domineering oppressiveness. He sipped the hot black coffee that had just been served to him gratefully. "You know. You truly are one of the most amazing people that I have ever known. You remind me of my father." "Ha! If you haven't realized, you are like six years older than I am. If anything, you would have to be my father." Sephiroth felt something inside of his stomach drop to the floor suddenly as he uttered the last two words of his statement. "I never knew my father. I was always taken care of by people I didn't know." "My father was just like you. He was a bottomless pit of knowledge absorbing motivation. He was the Top Officer before he resigned and handed me the rank." Rayze shook his head and sighed. I don't even know if it was worth it. I never even wanted to be a General of the military. But for the past six years I have made something out of myself and will surely be remembered after I die." "Well. Tomorrow is your big eighteenth birthday. How do you feel about it?" "I don't know. I'm excited because I have worked so hard to get where I am. It has always been my dream to be a First Class SOLDIER and it will be really something to actually attain that goal of achievement." Sephiroth glanced out the window at the massive Shinra Headquarters that loomed only miles away. "I never thought that I would learn as much as I have though. Not that I am boasting but I had no idea that I had the potential to be one of the best SOLDIERs." "It's quite amazing that you would just come strolling along out of nowhere and end up here." Rayze set his empty cup down. "Sephiroth. I have witnessed your abilities and realized long ago that you are something special. You have potential to be a great hero someday. But that kind of status weighs far beyond any military rank or level of command. I can sense that you will go much further than I ever will." "Oh, don't say that. I don't know about becoming any hero, but I will challenge myself to make the best I can possibly make of myself." Sephiroth smiled his white, almost pretty smile faintly but erased it and stood up. Jericho Rayze followed suite and the duo headed out of the café. 


	4. Part 4

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
The next morning was dreary. It figured. The day of his famed, eighteenth birthday and there is a thunderstorm warning on every television channel in existence. Sephiroth had decided to sleep the whole night, something that he rarely did due to his extensive studying that he obsessively continued every night and day. He walked into the small bathroom attached to his bedroom and looked in the mirror. His hair was a mess, and it only figured that the pillow he was sleeping on left imprints on the left side of his face. He rubbed the lines on his face with his hand and sighed. This was just turning into an excellent morning, he thought to himself. Sephiroth didn't even attempt to brush the tangles out of his waist length hair. His bangs were even cringed. His bangs never even really moved, much less get messed up. He sighed. His bangs were one of his only features that he really liked about himself. They gave him a solid uniqueness since nobody he had ever seen really had hair like his. He shook his head and got into the shower. He turned the water on and only freezing cold water came rushing through the pipelines. He didn't even flinch. The eighteen-year old just shook his head and cursed under his breath. He washed out the length of his hair thoroughly and succeeded in scrubbing himself clean before getting out of the shower to find nothing within arms reach to dry himself off with. "Well isn't this day just going to be a blast." As he tracked water all over the floor of the bathroom, he heard a loud knock at his door and the sound of footsteps clobbering away at the wooden stairs. "I swear to God if it is a prank I'm going to find the guy and wring his neck." Sephiroth cracked his knuckles loudly and pulled on his uniform quickly. He finished strapping the tall combat boots to his legs securely and locking his metal armlets to his forearms before opening the wooden door of his apartment. His hair was still wet and seemed to fall down his back in large strands. His bangs had air dried already and naturally positioned themselves the way they always did when they were dry. He looked down each end of the hallway and as he suspected, found no one. He was just about to step out of the room and hunt the immature idiot down like a raptor when he noticed something lying in front of the door with a piece of paper attached to it. "I wonder what this is all about," Sephiroth whispered to himself. Placed neatly in front of his doorway was a long cardboard box. It was a little over six feet long and looked really old. It seemed almost as if it had been in storage for a long time. The edges were worn and ragged. Though its battered shape, the box still contained whatever was inside it well. Sephiroth reached down to pick the box up and found that it was quite heavy. In fact it was very heavy for such a narrow box. He carried the mass of cardboard inside and laid it across the kitchen table. The mystery of what was inside the box outweighed his desire to read the letter and the soon-to-be-SOLDIER reached for a kitchen knife to slice the seam of the box open. After cutting the seams of the box he lifted the jagged edged portion of thick paper away and found what seemed to be a solid brick of Styrofoam. He knew better than that and pulled half of the white material away. What he found beneath took his breath away. It was a sword. It was the most beautiful sword he had ever laid eyes upon. It looked just like a Katana. It had a curved blade and the same type of handle and all. "My god. Who could forge something so perfect?" Sephiroth didn't even touch the sword. He just stared down at it and allowed his enhanced eyes to take in every detail. The five and a half foot long blade had a reflective luster to its perfect, razor sharp edge. He could see every detail of everything that was caught in the mirror-like blade. As he examined further he came to the base of the hilt. The rectangular hand guard that kept the hand from slipping onto the sharp blade was forged of a shiny, black crystal. The poker card sized guard was rimmed with a sleek, intricately symmetrical design. Beyond the base was the handle, which was wrapped with gold and black grip material. Between each of the diamond shaped areas on the side of the handle that weren't bound by the material there were materia slots. Finally, at the end of the ten-inch sword hilt there was the black end cap that kept the handle's grip from fraying. The Katana-like sword was beautiful. That wasn't all though. Lying next to the sword in the Styrofoam was a black sheath. Engraved on the onyx sword sheath was a small inscription. As Sephiroth turned his head to read it he frowned. The sheath had the words 'Angel of Death' carven upon it. After seeing this, the letter was brought back to his attention. He unfolded it and started to read aloud:  
  
Dear Sephiroth,  
  
It is without further ado that I present you with our ultimate family weapon, Masamune. It was blessed millennia ago by an ancient in our family history. The sword is protected from destruction and impurity and is now being passed onto you. This is your master weapon. It conceals tremendous power and magic and will allow you to discover new fighting abilities that you never knew were there. Hence the inscription on the sheath, this blade holds superiority over any weapon you have ever touched, and its' power is matched by few. This weapon will wield as if it were an extension of your body, and will cut through anything as if it were butter. It will only obey your command and cannot be wielded by any other human being. Take Masamune and wield it with compassion. It should be the key to the final door to your ultimate goal.  
  
Sincerely, Father  
  
"Oh my god. My father?" Sephiroth looked back at the blade and studied his reflection upon it. "Impossible. But, how did he know that my main goal involved my ultimate weapon? He would have to be someone in Shinra." Sephiroth shook his head and brushed off the oddity. Whoever it was that left him this gift could not have been his real father. He had been told that his father died on a secret Shinra mission many months before he was born. It must have been a person that my father trusted. Perhaps he was ordered to give me his old weapon before he passed away? "I don't know. Quit going in circles Sephiroth. It's done and over with. You have a cool sword now, big deal." The tall eighteen-year old young man reached his black-gloved hand toward the long Katana-like handle of the Masamune. Before his fingers even touched the black and gold handle he felt a rush of knowledge blast through his mind. It was as if the sword was speaking to him. Images flew past his line of vision like speeding bullets but his darting eyes caught each one. He saw images of people wielding the blade in many different ways. Each person had the similar characteristic of long hair and bangs. He watched as dragons, armored golems, and even villainous people were ripped to shreds under the amazing skills that the people wielding the blade possessed. After absorbing so much knowledge of the sword's past in his family, Sephiroth gripped the sword fully and lifted it. Its heaviness was reduced to that of a feather under his grip and it gleamed with newfound glory. The five and a half foot blade was slid evenly into the black sheath. The mirror blade seemed to pull the reflections inside the sheath with it. The young man looked over at his old Katana swords and back to the one that seemed to fit with him perfectly. He kicked the other battle worn swords under his bed and tied the sheath containing the invincible family sword to his belt. It was much longer than the others but it was perfectly balanced at his side.it truly was an extension of himself, he thought. An hour later he was heading into the courtyard of the Shinra University. He parked his sleek, Shinra Motors XR-70 motorcycle outside of the parking garage and was enduring the thick gazes at his new weapon. Everyone knew him. Everyone had they're own view of him. All of the guys seemed to dislike him. They called him a pretty boy and a teacher's pet. The girls on the other hand considered him a sex god. General Rayze always joked that he had a fanclub. The sad part is the general wasn't really joking. Sephiroth had had girlfriends off and on. When it came down to it though, he realized it was just for the fame. Most girls didn't really care about him, they just wanted to be able to say that they were going out with Sephiroth. That was another reason most guys hated him. He had sex with more virgins than one could count and he didn't really have to try. Sephiroth didn't care about that though. Yes, it was a pleasing experience, but it was nothing like the rush he got from combat. The taste of a victory was much more pleasing for him than anyone could contemplate.  
  
As the long-haired, SOLDIER clad young man reached the center of the courtyard he found what he least expected. An arena. There were many important people from Shinra sitting at a large table. The group included president Shinra. Sephiroth studied him from across the courtyard. He hadn't ever even spoken to the man but he knew much about him. He had slicked back blonde hair, a family characteristic, and bright blue eyes. His flamboyant red tuxedo was worn with much pride and seemed to domineer over the other members of his council. He was also just a tad overweight, but Sephiroth just figured that was from sitting in his office all day working. A hand rested on his armored shoulder pad and patted with a metallic click. Sephiroth glanced over coolly to see General Rayze standing next to him. "Are you ready for the biggest brawl you've ever been in Sephiroth?" "More than you will ever know. But, I didn't know it would be such a big ordeal." He replied with a shrug. Rayze chuckled. "It is a huge event. This big ass courtyard is going to be packed to the max with people tonight. I pray that you do your best because it will reflect upon me. You were my personal student after all. I hope all of the boasting I did to the Shinra executives and president was a good idea. They will be expecting an impressive fight from you Sephiroth" The general seemed to sweat it a little but he played it off coolly. "Gee, thanks. Can't wait." Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "By the way. Check out the sword that was addressed to me outside my front door." Sephiroth reached for the gold and black handle and unsheathed the Masamune from the black sheath tied to his belt. The long, curved blade exited the sheath with a glass like sparkle. He had inserted five of his master materia into five of the six slots. "That's odd. It was left outside your apartment for you? That is an ultimate weapon, man. Few people ever inherit them." Rayze studied the black sheath next and nodded. "Angel of Death. It's a given then. My ultimate weapons, the two Murasame blades I always fight with, have titles on they're sheathes also. One sheath says 'Alpha' and the other says 'Omega'. It's impossible to sheath one sword in the others sheath also. Its strange, but congratulations." "I haven't used it yet. I hope I do as well with it rather than my Katana." Sephiroth shook his head and brushed off the matter. "Anyway. I need to focus on this fight tonight." "Yes you do because you will be competing against some of the best fighters in the world. If you even manage to make it past them you will then have to face me so get ready for a nasty fight. I'm not going to go easy on you in the least." The General snickered and passed his gaze to the arena that he would be fighting in later on. It was similar to a boxing ring but instead of elastic ropes, there were metal cables that connected each turnbuckle. The level of the arena was also on the ground. The cobblestone floor of the huge courtyard looked very uninviting to the flesh. For the rest of the day, the eighteen year old walked around campus and looked at his old classrooms and study places. He knew he was different. There was something special about him, and he knew it. He knew how easily he grasped things and how well his instincts reacted in combat. He had something special but he wasn't sure why it was given to him. He knew that he had been injected with mako and Jenova as a child but even so he still had something that few had. "I know biochemical compounds off of the top of my head but I don't know who my real mother or father are. I guess it doesn't matter." Sephiroth sighed and got up from his old seat in Gast's classroom. He headed for the door and started back to the courtyard to get ready for the annual SOLDIER competition, which was to begin in less than an hour. He knew now. This was it. This was the time to complete his most important goal. He was going to win the competition above all odds. Friendship, anything, didn't matter now. This was his chance to shine to the world.his one chance to make something of his hard work. The courtyard was already almost crammed with viewers. Space was made for the president's table and his executives by protection of the Turks. The Turks were an elite team of secret agents that had only two purposes. The first was to protect the president with they're lives, and the second was to scout for candidates of SOLDIER. The leader of the Turks was a tall, long-haired man of about twenty six. His hair resembled Rayze's only it was half the length. He stood proudly next to the president of Shinra and pushed away anyone who came too close. Sephiroth shook his head and walked up to General Rayze, who was standing at the far left end of an average sized stage. The wooden floorboards were buffed to a shiny, almost petrified state, the young man noticed, as the tall combat boots strode across it. There was a line of ten First Class SOLDIERs standing to the General's side. About five feet in front of the line of powerful fighters there was a metal microphone stand. A middle aged man with short blonde hair and a stubble of a beard was standing behind it scanning over the massive crowd that was crowded around the stage. It was the president of the university. "Hey Rayze. How is this going to work," Sephiroth asked with a concerned look on his face. The black haired general just nudged him over to his right side and motioned to the announcer. "Ladies and Gentlemen from around the world, welcome to the Annual SOLDIER Fighting Championship. As some of you may remember from the past championships we have held, it will be a battle between ten of the most powerful First Class SOLDIERs in the ranks." The announcer turned and motioned to all of the men behind him. "This year we have a small extra for you though!" The announcer turned to Sephiroth, who was almost directly behind him, and motioned for him quickly with a wave of his hand. Sephiroth glanced at the crowd, slightly nervously and nodded. He strode up to the stand, his beautiful long hair billowing in the breeze. The heavy spotlights all came down on him and the announcer in a whip of color. Sephiroth stood tall and proud under the bright lights, which reflected off of his bangles, armlets, and shimmering hair like rays from a Flare spell.  
  
"We have General Jericho Rayze's personal student with us tonight. Meet Sephiroth ladies and gentlemen! He has been training with our amazing General for almost two years now and from what I hear has been an incredible success! He has decided to compete against the SOLDIERs in this year's championship for an entry into SOLDIER, folks." The announcer narrowed over to the barely eighteen- year old young man next to him. "So, what is your goal battling against these amazing fighters tonight Mr. Sephiroth?" "I would like to at least come out of this with a respectful rank." Sephiroth spoke into the microphone with a somewhat confident voice. The announcer raised a hand to initiate the wave of hoots and claps that would soon erupt. One person in the front line of viewers, who was very drunk, threw a beer bottle at Sephiroth with a quarterback arm. Sephiroth caught it without the slightest effort and set it on the metal microphone stand. The crowd roared with laughter as the Turks drug the man away. "Well Sephiroth, best of luck to you!" The announcer turned back to the crowd as Sephiroth took a step backwards to rejoin the line of SOLDIERs. "The championship will go as follows. The lowest, or in Mr. Sephiroth's case, no ranked fighter will start the competition against the lowest of the ten SOLDIERs. With each victory, either fighter will be given the option to succeed the rank of the defeated opposition or stay in they're own rank. The winner of each fight will move up to the next highest ranked SOLDIER and follow suite as the fight before. The person who defeats the highest ranked First Class SOLDIER will then be set in a dual with General Jericho Rayze himself. If they defeat him, then they will take the rank of Top Officer respectfully. Let the fighting begin." Instantly, Sephiroth and the last SOLDIER in line were ushered to the twenty-foot square battle arena. The crowd cheered as the made they're way. Before either man was allowed into the ring, they were frisked by a blue suited Turk. As they were approved they were instructed to stand at opposite corners. The Turk looked up at the two fighters that were a few inches taller than him. "At the sound of the bell you can draw your weapons. There are no actual rules, but you are disqualified for acting before the bell rings or falling out of the ring." As the man exited the ring, a bell was rang loudly to initiate combat. Sephiroth instantly had his new Masamune blade poised in his fighting stance. The rush of combat coursed through his veins as he paced forward towards the other SOLDIER. The other man had long red hair that fell past his shoulders. His eyes glowed with a purplish color as he held his severely jagged edged Organics sword in front of him. The crowd roared with excitement as the First Class leapt at Sephiroth with inhuman speed. He thrashed his razor sharp blade downward in an arc and found it intercepted by the long curved blade of the Masamune. He pressed down heavily but was thrown backwards by a kick to the chest. Sephiroth leapt forward with his blade and even more inhuman speed. He could already sense that the man would block his maneuver and faked the downward slice with a horizontal slash. The long blade whipped across the other SOLDIER's breast plate and ripped a red gash into his chest. The man did several back flips backwards and attempted to cure his wound with a cure materia, but wasn't given the chance as his opposition roundhouse kicked him in the chin with tremendous speed and sent him flying with into one of the metal boundary cords. The man fell out of the ring unconscious and the Turk walked onto the stage and lifted Sephiroth's arm into the air. The next SOLDIER came into the ring after the Turk referee exited and took his post. He was a lot bigger than Sephiroth and had an extremely muscular frame. The man hefted a massive broadsword off of his back as the bell rang. Sephiroth wasted absolutely no time in blazing into the larger man with a fury of circular based slices. His attacks seemed to flow into one another as the other SOLDIER blocked each with a tremendous blow. "Your strong. not strong enough though I don't think." Sephiroth kicked the man in the jaw swiftly and followed the blurring attack with an uppercut and a slash across one of the man's wrists. The man was too slow to swing his massive blade with one arm and found himself pummeled brutally by the Katana like blade of the teenager. With a fifth and final hit, the man's huge sword was hacked into two. He now had nothing to block with and tackled the smaller young man like a football player. Sephiroth fell easily under the man's weight but was instantly on his feet again after Judo flipping the man in a single motion over himself and out of the ring.  
  
"He has done well so far. I hope all the money I bet on him is worth it though later on," the president commented between puffs of a cigar and glanced over at his executives sitting around the table. They were about ten feet away from the ring and had a great view of everything that was happening inside. The next First Class SOLDIER had already entered the ring and was fighting against the two-win streak the other sleek fighter had won. "He is perfect. His skills much outweigh any of those First Class SOLDIERs out there. I wouldn't be surprised if he even defeats Top Officer Rayze." Professor Hojo chimed in after the president was done speaking. His white lab coat was buttoned to the neck and his greasy looking black hair was tied back into a ponytail. His stringy bangs hung over his beady, spectacle enhanced eyes while he watched his unbeknownst son fight impressively. "I can't believe you finally gave him your sword Hojo. It had been in our basement for years. I guess you were right. He is ready for it," Scarlet raised an eyebrow as she watched Sephiroth annihilate the third SOLDIER with a powerful baseball swing of his sword. The long blade whipped the man into and over the edge of the arena. Sephiroth did an impressive, crowd-pleasing back-flip to his post and allowed them all to cheer him on. He wiped his blade clean of blood before the fourth SOLDIER entered the ring and was pleased to see that the note had been correct. There wasn't a single scratch or nick on the blade. He slid it back into the sheath and smiled at the title of the blade. Angel of Death. The next SOLDIER to get into the ring was shorter than him, and not nearly as muscular, but he had a dishonorable weapon strapped to his right leg. It was a standard issue Mako Rifle. To prepare for the dangerous fight, the stage technicians activated a blue magical barrier from a large generator like machine at one corner of the arena. The crowd booed due to the reduction of visibility but obliged for they're safety. The bell rang loudly and echoed off the powerful magical barrier surrounding the ring. "Your done." The SOLDIER hefted his black rifle up to his should and instantly fired at the sword bearing man rapidly. His aim was dead on and Sephiroth had to block most of the green lasers with his sword. The bursts of laser dissipated away harmlessly as he flipped the long blade in hundreds of different angles to block all of them. Sephiroth shook his head angrily and flipped into the air, away from the immediate blasts. He levitated with the gravity manipulation technique that Rayze had taught him only months ago and summoned a mass of green energy from his left palm. He threw the magical energy at the gunmen below and soared slightly higher to avoid the blast. "Ultima!" The massive explosion rocked the entire courtyard as the man was knocked unconscious. Sephiroth took a heavy breath and dropped back to the arena. As the blue magical curtain refolded itself, the roar of the crowd could be heard like a rock concert. They chanted his name over and over again. The next SOLDIER got into the ring and the battle began soon afterwards. "His swordsmanship and magical strength is amazing. He has defeated four First Class SOLDIERs in less than two hours. Watch as he flows through his attacks. Each slice flows into the next in almost a circular fashion. He even manages to throw in kicks and punches between his attacks. The speed is incredible." Hojo proudly studied his son as he fought. He was everything that he himself was not, muscular, fast, and intelligent. I.Q., bangs, sharp eyes, and motivation were the only traits that his son had carried on from him. "He's good but I don't think he has what it takes to take down Rayze." The president laughed a little. He was trying to tick Hojo off and the scientists knew it. "We'll see." Hojo scoffed in annoyance. He kicked back in his chair as he watched his son gain yet another victory. The sixth fighter entered the ring and fell within ten minutes of constant sword fighting. Sephiroth's speed and accuracy overwhelmed the higher ranked man as he attempted to keep up with the swift attacks, guards, and parries. Hojo glanced at the president with a glint in his beady eyes and watched as his son began to dual with the eighth SOLDIER. The man was very fast and powerful with the two short swords he wielded as if they were extensions of himself. Sephiroth's catlike pupils narrowed in on every swift movement that the man made as he blocked with his Masamune blade. The man was suddenly shocked to see Sephiroth bat one of his swords out of his hand and into the air. The short one-handed sword hilt landed in Sephiroth's right hand while he blocked the man's single sword with his Masamune. He wiped the blade out of the way and stabbed the overwhelmed fighter with his own sword. The blade protruded from his left should with a red splash. As the referee drug the wounded man off of the arena and sent him to the hospital, the ninth SOLDIER entered the ring. Hojo glanced over at the president. "Are you sure about what you said earlier?" "We'll see." Rayze sat down at the table as the group watched Sephiroth annihilate the nineth and tenth SOLDIER. The two fights altogether only lasted a matter of fifteen minutes. Rayze equipped his weapons well. He knew he was going to have to fight and after seeing Sephiroth fight he wasn't sure what the outcome would be. He didn't care if he lost his rank to Sephiroth though. He had spent twelve long years in the military and he had more important things he wanted to do with his life, like a family and a home. "Rayze. Get up there and show that boy who is boss. He's made it to the last bout, right chap?" The president urged the Top Officer on. Rayze just looked up and slicked his hair back. "Sephiroth has earned his skills with more compassion than I ever had. You may just be surprised who makes it out of this competition standing. There is a good chance it will be him. Thank you for the kind words though president." Rayze arose from the table and walked over to the battle arena. He took the position next to the opposite turnbuckle and scanned over the crowd that roared for him and the fighter opposing him. "Utilize everything I have taught you and you will win, Commander Sephiroth." Rayze nodded and the glare of mako seemed to burn in his eyes. Sephiroth raised his eyebrows at the title of commander. That must have been the rank of the last First Class SOLDIER he had defeated. The bell rang and everything seemed to go in slow motion for the student and teacher. Both of they're swords were drawn the instant the bell toned. Sephiroth studied the other's eyes with his own as both SOLDIERs made they're actions concise and with perfection. The crowd seemed to grow silent as they witnessed high-speed sword fighting at its best. Sephiroth matched every attack from his General's dual Murasame with a perfect display of accuracy and power. They're attacks and parries seemed to blend together perfectly. Nothing could have penetrated either of they're defenses until Sephiroth delivered a lightning quick knee to Rayze's chin. Rayze went flying backwards under the force and landed on his hands. He instantly flipped onto his feet and blasted a ray of Flare into Sephiroth's chest. The super-concentrated heat beam knocked Sephiroth into the turnbuckle. Rayze was there the instant he collided and began his lightning quick onslaught of punches and kicks. Sephiroth took the full force of it for about five seconds until he slashed his Masamune across Rayze's chest and ripped the strong armor of his breastplate open. Blood didn't even have enough time to surface before the Jenova cells in Rayze's body healed the wound. "It'll take a little more than that to take me down and you know it." "I know," Sephiroth replied coolly as he raised his sword to his fighting position. Rayze attacked with a long chain of powerful sword maneuvers next. Sephiroth knew what the Top Officer was doing. He blocked each one with his long sword and kicked the man in the stomach. Rayze attempted to grab his leg and turn him on his face but only succeeded in leaving an open space for a jab. Sephiroth sliced one of Rayze's bangles completely from his shoulder and did a succession of quick back-flips away from the SOLDIER. He raised his left hand back and collected a handful of green magical energy. He released it in a wave of powerful spells as he called them off. "Ice Three, Fire Three, Lightning Three, Quake Three, Comet Two!" "Damn you." Rayze attempted to cast a Reflect Spell but the magical chain had already begun to take its toll by the time he parted his lips. The elements all ravaged him violently with a sort of beautifully scenic display. Following the sinkhole beneath his feet came a barrage of magical Comets. He was only stumbled backwards, but was exhausted as the magical energy dissipated. "So you want to play magician. Try this on for size kid! Knight's of Round!" Three spheres of light swarmed around the weakened General's hand and erupted in a cataclysmic array of light as Sephiroth was thrown into an illusionary abyss and attacked by twelve knights. They ravaged him with they're swords, staves, axes, and even magic for a total of twelve hits before a giant knight raised a sword of light above the target's head and slashed downward. Sephiroth stumbled backwards as the magic disappeared from all around him. The crowd was cheering deafeningly as they witnessed the magical supremacy that the two warriors possessed aside from they're sonic speed swordsmanship. Sephiroth breathed heavily in exhaustion as he watched in slow motion at the invading attack that he was about to take full force. Rayze slashed in a sextuplet of sleek maneuvers with his Alpha and Omega swords. Sephiroth perceived the attack seconds before it happened and brushed it off with a wave of red light from his body. General Rayze saw it coming as soon as Omega deflected off of the energy wave. He knew what was coming and began to take steps backwards. The crowd booed at his involuntary retreat but he didn't care. He took his guarding position and watched as the silver haired, almost angelic, swordsman held his long Katana like Masamune in front of him and closed his eyes. Light began to radiate off of the blade as a gentle wind began to sweep across the arena. The once silver bladed Masamune glowed brightly and became crystalline as he parted his lips and met his binocular eyes with his best friend. "Angel of Death," Sephiroth whispered under his breath and, with light speed, clashed with the other man in a fury of flowing sword maneuvers. The crystalline blade of his Masamune seemed to disappear as he thrashed his old trainer like a soulless monster. It felt like betrayal but he couldn't control it. Rayze blocked as many of the slices as he could before his arms went limp under the pressure. Even with his mako strength he couldn't hold up and the final blow came nearing his chest. Sephiroth rose into the air as if he had wings and dropped like the Angel of Death upon Rayze with his long, curved blade poised downward to go through his chest. At the last second Rayze cast a Protect spell over his body. The blue light encased him protectively but the long blade still pierced him through the stomach. As the uncontrollable limit break came to an end, Sephiroth realized what he had done and pulled his blade free from the man's stomach. Paramedics were sprinting to the fallen General as the crowd stared with disbelief. Sephiroth grabbed the Restore materia from Rayze's left sword and cast Cure Three as quickly as he could. Rayze was coughing blood from his lungs as the light enveloped him and began to heal his wounds. He suddenly began to laugh. His eyes closed and he brought a hand to his forehead as he hyperventilated and laughed at the same time. Sephiroth stood to his feet, ragged, bloody, and sore and reached a hand down to the General who was in worse condition. "Where did you learn that at? I didn't teach that to you." General Raze stood up and sheathed his swords. He pulled his shoulder guards off and unlatched the leather straps that connected to the armored rank belt around his waist. He unlatched the small fasteners that connected to the belt of his fighting pants and pulled the heavy, symbol bearing rank belt over his head. You certainly have proven that you are Top Officer material. Here, take it. You have proven yourself over the past two years well enough. You deserve it more than I do." "Thank you.sir!" Sephiroth saluted the Ex-General with more pride than he had ever felt and attached the Top Officer belt around his waist. The crowd couldn't hear anything that they were saying but cheered happily and congratulatory for the new Top Officer of SOLDIER. Rayze walked up to the microphone stand with Sephiroth standing next to him and pulled it from the stand. "I now resign my rank of Top Officer of SOLDIER to my successor and student, Sephiroth." All of the SOLDIERs that were in the crowd gave they're last salutes to Jericho Rayze. Back at the table, Professor Hojo gave a sneer to the president. Shinra just gave a smug look like he didn't care he had been wrong and clapped. Hojo glanced up at Sephiroth, who had just proven himself as the best fighter in the world. "That's my boy." 


	5. Part 5

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
Everything felt like a dream. Light penetrated his eyelids and could be seen as a vortex of red to his beautiful blue eyes beneath. Before he even opened his eyes, he could tell that something was different. Not just a single thing either. His blonde hair had grown longer, and was held all the way to the tip of his green hood. The golden strands flaked against his face gently in the slight breeze that seemed to rotate around the room he was in. He felt much bigger also. He could actually feel the definition of his muscles. They weren't overly large but were more than the average person his age.then it hit him. How old was he now? Link's eyes snapped open instantly and was shaken suddenly to see a particularly large, elderly man floating in the air a few feet in front of him. It was Rauru, the Sage of Light, he noticed after studying the man's orange robes and calculating eyes. Link looked over his body. He had been right. He was much bigger now. He was much stronger, taller, and agile. Standing up straight he noticed he was about five- foot eleven to six feet tall and probably weighed around a hundred and fifty or so. Over the seven years that he was unconscious Rauru must have magically taken care of him with his supreme wizardry. Link glanced at his clothes to see that he was still wearing Kokiric clothes. The green tunic, green hat, and brown Kokiri boots had not changed other than the fact that they fit his larger size. Underneath his tunic, he now wore a white body suite. It fit perfectly and defined his decent muscularity with intimidating clarity. He raised his leather gauntleted hands to his face and rubbed the feeling of numbness away. Rauru smiled warmly, and welcomingly. "Welcome to seven years in the future twenty two year old Hero of Time. Ganondorf escaped the Evil Realm which you stand on at this very moment only one hour after you pulled the Master Sword from its resting place." Link looked down to see a glasslike Triforce symbol beneath his feet. There was nothing but clouds below. All of the evil that had been put in the realm had escaped with Ganondorf. Hundreds of years worth of evil had escaped. "I don't know if I can do this on my own, Rauru." "It will be tough but I foresee much help along the way for you. Don't worry just trust your instincts. You are strong Link and there is much more room left for you to grow stronger. This adventure you are about to head out on will prove that." Rauru channeled a pillar of light upon Link and prepared to send him back to the physical world. "Please save Hyrule Hero of Time. You are our last fighting chance." The pillar of light began to swarm around the young man's body like a snake of gold. He felt his body become weightless and disappear in an array of sparkling magic as the vortex to the realm of the living swallowed him whole. It was as if he were traveling at the speed of light as he flickered his blue eyes open. The sky seemed to mold with the mountains and the grass seemed to engulf the trees. His body descended in the form of a spirit upon the once peaceful land of Hyrule. He seemed to fall right through the highest steeple of the Temple of Time. He looked up at the stained glass window a hundred feet above him and narrowed in on the beautiful light that protruded from the mix of beautiful colors. Why was there light? There should have been nothing but shadows in the skies. Surely Ganondorf had taken over the kingdom in seven years. Link ignored the matter for a moment and walked over to the dusty sack of equipment he had left inside the temple. It looked untouched. He grabbed the string that closed the satchel and untied it. Upon reaching in he found all of his old equipment. He pulled off the leather gauntlets that Rauru had equipped him with and tossed them in the bag, replacing with the gold plated Golden Gauntlets that he had found on his last adventure. Next, Link pulled out his Fairy Bow, which had a quiver of arrows bolted to the neck, and slung it over his blue and gold sword sheath. After he secured it underneath his red-rimmed Mirror Shield he attached his Longshot propulsion hook to his belt. The metal handle of the tool glinted in the light as he dug through the large satchel and found his three magic crystals, Din's Fire, Nayru's Love, and Farore's Wind. He placed the diamond shaped crystals inside the pouches of his sheath strap, which was slung around his midsection like a sash. Next he found the four magical masks that he had thrown into the bag. He put them together like a deck of cards and looked around his body to find a place to put them. He was equipped to the maximum and he couldn't find anywhere to put the magical masks. "Well I guess I will just leave them here for now." Link unsheathed the beautiful, four and half-foot blade of the Master Sword from the golden sheath on his back and looked at his twenty two year old reflection in the blade. "Well man, its time to save the world." Link walked casually out of the Temple of Time and looked around. The beautiful blue sky greeted him with an eerie sense of peacefulness. The beautiful sunlight reflected blindingly off of the Mirror Shield on his back and cast it's glow in the shape of a moon on the temple behind him. Link's brown boots pattered against the ground as he ran off to the Market. Before he had even made an appearance, people were already cheering for his return. He only grinned. At the sound of the cheering, Zelda ran to her window and looked towards the marketplace. She frowned in concern but something inside of her told her to check it out. She headed for the door instantly as he long pink dress trailed behind her. The Triforce of wisdom glowed brightly on the back of her hand, glaring onto her golden hair. As she made her way out of the castle and through the mountain pass towards the market the cheering began to die. The whoops of happiness turned to screams of fear as a giant cloud of gray passed over the entire town. It rushed in within a matter of thirty seconds. Zelda dashed towards the main gate and peered into the Hyrule Market with a look of fear on her pretty features. As her purplish eyes focused she saw several knights running to the drawbridge with weapons drawn. The silver armor covered they're whole bodies and they're spears and swords looked very uninviting. The drawbridge lowered itself at the command of the lead knight and came crashing down over top of the moat surrounding the city and castle. Suddenly Zelda saw a figure with a shiny shield in hand and a blue hilted sword. He was square in the middle of the group and was preparing to fight also. Zelda kept her distance but watched verily as the young man dashed into the heat of a brewing battle. Invading through the gate was a brigade of Stalfos. The skeleton monsters waved swords and shields around in madness and attacked blindly at the squad of knights, including the blonde haired young man. "Oh my.he is finally back." Link sprinted at the nearest Stalfos monster he could find and slashed three times with the powerful blade of the Master Sword. The pure blade thrashed the undead monster to pieces under its power and left nothing but a pile of bones. Link wasted no time checking the remains before spinning around with a circular motion and wiping out another of the monsters. The knights fared well also. They jabbed at the evil intruders with they're long spears and heavy broadswords. Link leapt in to help them finish off the last of the horrible creatures and ended the fight with only a few strikes of his evil destroying blade. "Whew. Where did they come from?" "Ganondorf's army. They attack randomly from day to day. He is slowly killing us off, easily, and efficiently." The Hyrule Knight General sheathed his powerful Biggoron Sword at his side and brushed his graying hair back behind his ears. He stood about six foot three and had a solid, yet elder appearance. Link nodded at the man's reply. "His tactics are strange." "I figured he would have already taken over the kingdom by now." Link wiped bone marrow off of his blade and sheathed it behind his back. He reattached his shield to the golden sheath and started walking back to the castle with the military leader. "Where is he stationing himself at?" "It is rumored that he has taken over the Spirit Temple and is using it as a base until he overtakes the kingdom and creates his palace." The General shook his head in annoyance and glanced back over at the younger man beside him. "We've been waiting on you to make it here. None of us are skilled enough to defeat him. Not to put a load on your shoulders, but we need you to do our dirty work for us." "I know. I just hope I can stand up to him this time. He is much more powerful than he ever has been. I'm praying for some help along the way." Link shook his shin length bangs back and looked up at the dark clouds that were slowly fading away to azure. He looked down at the gray, cobblestone pathway that lead to the market and sighed. The rush of air was interrupted by two thin arms, which wrapped themselves around him suddenly. He looked up to find the embrace of a pink dressed girl with long, shimmering blonde hair and beautiful features. "I was so scared you wouldn't return." The girl looked up with the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen and almost went backwards. She frowned at his odd reaction and stared into his bright blue eyes. "Link?" "Zelda," Link asked as he was taken back by her beautiful face and figure. "I made it." "I'm so glad you came to our rescue. I was afraid Ganondorf would escape and kill us all before you could do anything." Zelda felt a tear begin to well but she held it back as the two followed the knights into the city. Her hair flowed behind her like molten gold and whipped in the wind like a silken flag. "Oh! Guess what!" "Huh? What?" Link glanced over at the petite girl beside him. "I got a present for you back at the castle. I traveled to a new Shiekah village that was just found a few years ago and bought some equipment that you might like." Zelda and Link walked through the mountain pass that lead to the castle. The guards all stood in perfect silence, but they all had they're eyes on the girl. She was the epitome of feminine beauty. Every guy she had ever met tried to get with her but Link was different. He didn't try to impress her. "Shiekah equipment? As in the Mirror Shield on my back?" Link seemed slightly anxious at the sound of the apparent gift. "Shieka equipment is the best in the world. It's made of they're own compound of indestructible materials. It's rumored that they're equipment is made of the same materials that the goddesses made the Master Sword from." "I know. I figured it would be a little helpful. Besides, regular tunics aren't going to cut it anymore. The battles are much larger than you would expect. Some of the largest battlefields we have had in the past seven years have reached all the way to Lon Lon Ranch." Zelda sighed in reminiscence of the past few years that the young man had been gone. "Ganondorf has also resurrected all of the old temple demons that you defeated so long ago. You will need to have some armor to protect you on all sides." The duo headed into the castle and walked to the young woman's room. It was dressed in white and gold and had a large canopy bed against the back wall. The walls were made of the same gray bricks as the rest of the castle and had three windows built into three of the four. The wooden doorway creaked as they made they're way inside. As Link glanced around he saw a dresser with a mirror, covered in different types of makeup and other miscellaneous things. He glanced over into the corner to find a table. "So this is the Shiekah equipment. That's awesome. I didn't think that they made this stuff anymore." Link looked down at an impressively crafted vest of armor. It had a silver stomach plate with a gold lined breastplate. On the left breastplate there was a golden Triforce symbol and on the right side there was a crescent moon, the symbol of the Shiekah tribe. A leather strap with a small metal buckle tightened the armor to the body. The rich looking armor covered his entire midsection, front and back, as held it up to himself. "Thank you Zelda. It will be helpful. Very much so." "That's not all. I bought you a new set of clothes, fighting boots, and something else I think will be very helpful." Zelda pulled out a folded, white tunic with a white hood, and a black set of underclothes from a drawer in her dresser. She walked over to her closet and retrieved a pair of black fighting boots. Small plates of armor, which resembled scales, were placed intricately on the leather material. Next the blonde haired princess pulled out a small silver crossbow from another drawer. "It's a powerful crossbow, considerably more agile and powerful than the bow you have now. It should make you a little more agile." "That is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Link accepted the crossbow and loaded one of his arrows into it. He aimed sharply out the window at a tree about a hundred yards away and fired the one handed crossbow at the wooden trunk. The metal arrowhead hit the tree with so much force that it buried the length of the wooden arrow completely into the wood. "Forget this stupid Fairy Bow." "Impa helped me get this stuff since she is a fighter and all. She got you the same equipment that she got for herself. Well, she got a female crescent vest though if you know what I mean. She has been a great help in the battles with her skills. Expect her to join you in the fight with Ganondorf." Zelda glanced out the window at the green fields beyond and back to the powerful warrior at her side. "Thank you so much Link." "No, thank you Zelda. You couldn't have made my return any better. Thanks for watching my back and thinking about me." Link sighed and rested his left hand on her shoulder. He was careful not to hurt her with the strength of the Golden Gauntlets and squeezed lightly. She rushed into him and gave him a hug. Link wasn't used to this kind of affection. "Most people just expect me to go out and risk my life for them. You don't though and I really appreciate it." "Just promise me you will be careful, Hero of Time." Zelda let go of his midsection and awaited his nod. She smiled approvingly and helped the young man carry the new equipment to another room. "You can stay here. The guards won't bother you since you are of higher rank." "Thanks." Link walked into the room and shut the creaky door as Zelda walked away to her father's throne room. Link looked longingly at the bed and groaned. He set his new equipment on the table across the room and added some of his old to it as well. He laid down and started off to a world of dreams. The past seven years had been tiring for him, growing up unconsciously in the Temple of Light.  
  
Nighttime had fallen in the peaceful Gerudo Desert. Gentle drifts of sand whipped across the plains of brown as the moon began it's descent through the white clouds above. A lone, dark figure made it's way through the ever-increasing roar of sand with a brown cloak over his small, frail body. He walked steadily into the sandstorm of the wasteland part of the desert and fought off the urges of weariness. He could see the huge outline of the massive Spirit Temple in the distance. "Lord Ganondorf isn't going to be happy. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. He's going to make mincemeat out of me at the news." The figure spoke in a weak, high-pitched tone as he headed up the massive stone stairs and into the temple. He choked down the fright as he entered Ganondorf's main chamber. It was a library-like room lit only by bright torches. Ganondorf sat in the middle of it at a huge desk that wrapped around like a workstation and was reading out of a large book. "Is the Hyrule Market taken over yet?" Ganondorf's booming voice echoed off of the tall, granite walls as if a bass drum had just been smacked inside of a cave. He brushed his long red hair back with his hand and whipped his cape around. His massive figure caused the tiny man to yelp in fright. He covered himself with his frail arms but felt like a fool as Ganondorf had made no attempt to attack him. "Pull it together you fool!" "The Stalfos failed my lord! I'm sorry!" The man covered his ears to escape the loud cursing that would soon erupt. Ganondorf smacked his fist against the wall with a shatter of stone. "Damn it all! Why the Hell did they fail Gydo?" Ganondorf connected eyes with the wee servant and was pleased to see the utter terror for his life. He loved to see terror in the eyes of the people. He also loved to see blood dripping from the blades of his Stalfos infantry but to no avail.  
  
"They had another with them today. He was dressed in a green tunic and had a neat looking sword. Do you know him my lord?" Gydo explained the reasons for defeat and Ganondorf just laughed thickly. Gydo arched an eyebrow and looked around. "Link! Ha, ha, ha!" Ganondorf laughed madly to himself and wiped his forehead of the perspiration. "This is the day I've been waiting for during the past seven years. This is excellent. I'm going to give Link and his friends a little celebration. The Hylians actually prepared themselves well in the year before I escaped the Evil Realm. They succeeded in holding me off until he returned but I am just getting warmed up now. Go tell Shadow Link to prepare for battle tomorrow morning." Ganondorf walked into a curtained room and rustled around for about five minutes before ripping the red silk away and walking out. His shoulders were now crested with a thick padding of black armor and his once cloaked body was now covered from neck to toe in brown Gerudo armor. His heavy boots clanked against the floor loudly as he stepped completely out of the room. On his back he had his new weapon sheathed securely. It was a massive broadsword with razor sharp edges. The long wooden handle had a cloth tied around it for grip and the eight- foot blade had a black tint to it. He truly was frightening now. "Playtime Link."  
  
The sun was barely above the horizon before the terror from the desert had begun to strike the city of Hyrule. Everyone was just beginning to open they're stores as the bright orange sphere peered over the edge of the castle. The Hylian Knights were all returning to they're posts as children began to run around the streets to play with they're dogs. It was a picture perfect scene until a young Hylian Knight burst into the bunkhouse of the waking knights with blood pouring from his horrible wounds. He had a swollen eye, a long gash across his forehead, a rip in his stomach, and a stab wound in his left collar bone. His armor had been ravaged by strong weapons. "What happened? Who did this to you man?" The elder General rushed to the young knight's aid and helped him to a chair. The wounds bled all over the floor in a disgusting pool of gore. The rest of the armored knights gathered around. "Enemy brigade.from the. South. Be here.in minutes." "A brigade! Get to your battle post's immediately men! Archers get to the top of the main wall and raid any invading enemy with fire arrows!" The General dashed out of the room as the man's breathing went silent and readied soldiers at they're posts. There were well over five hundred men that had been called to duty that day. The general only prayed that they were strong enough to take on the invading army. He unsheathed his long Biggoron Sword and made a sprint to the drawbridge. A squad of about twenty knights followed him to the wooden wall as it began to roll to the ground with the sound of loud gears turning. The squadron dashed onto the field with swords and spears ready to kill. General Rile looked towards the South, where the apparent invading army was coming from and narrowed in on the lead fighter. The young man looked exactly like Link only he had a black tunic with black underclothes, a black Master Sword, a black Hylian Shield, and glowing white eyes. His dark hood whipped in the wind as he made eye contact with Rile. Following behind the evil looking Link was a squad of about nine hundred of Ganondorf's minions. The Stalfos, with they're wicked swords and bony bodies, chattered towards the castle in a blaze of madness. Mixed in with the Stalfos were hundreds of Lizalfos. The manlike lizards stood about six feet tall and all carried razor sharp swords. They're ugly, green scales glinted in the slowly overcastting sunlight. Following in a pack behind the evil army were about two hundred Wolfos. They're gray bodies were covered with greasy fur and they're long fangs dripped with saliva as the also made they're way to the battlefield. "I want all five hundred of our knights on duty out here immediately. Go sound the horn." Rile stood in a line with the knights. They all held they're weapons at ready for the bloodbath that would soon ensue. One of the knights headed back to the market a few yards from them and sounded the battle trumpet. Instantly all of the knights at they're posts came running out to the Hyrule Field. 


	6. Part 6

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
Impa ran through the halls of the castle. With each step came the sound of a thunderclap outside. The clouds were moving in quickly. That meant Ganondorf was attacking. She burst into Princess Zelda's room first and woke the young woman from her sleep. Zelda leapt up instantly and grabbed for a knife on her bed table. "Princess, you must stay here! His army is attacking! Keep your windows and doors locked until it's over! Link and I must go fight!" Zelda nodded tiredly and set the dagger down. Impa ran out of the room after locking everything and ran to Link's sleeping quarters. She burst and was met by the blade of the Master Sword. The blade pressed against her throat by a strong arm. "Link! What the Hell are you doing?" "Sorry Impa, I was just being stealthy in case an enemy burst in here all of a sudden." Link sheathed the blade and looked into the twenty eight year old guardian's eyes. He blushed slightly at the fact that she had burst in when he was getting dressed. He finished putting the black underclothes, which fit perfectly to his frame, on and pulled the white tunic over his head. Next he tightened the Golden Gauntlets to his hands. The golden plates shimmered and the red ruby that was placed on the back of the hand glowed ominously. It felt much different wearing actual armor as the young man fastened the Crescent Armor vest to his chest, back and stomach. It was surprisingly lightweight for such strong armor. He fastened his golden sheath to his back and tied his small, silver crossbow to his belt. He did the same with his Longshot then fastened his red Mirror Shield to his back, overtop of the shiny golden sheath. Before he dashed out of the doorway with Impa, who was watching intently with a mischievous smirk on her face, the Hero of Time pulled the black, metal-plated boots onto his feet. They came up to his mid shin, and were surprisingly lighter than his Kokiric Boots. Shiekah equipment truly was the best. "The enemy is closing in right now, we have to hurry. Come one!" Impa and Link dashed out of the doorway with weapons ready. Impa's long dagger looked very uninviting and Link's Master Sword seemed to have it's own bloodlust as they sprinted down the halls and out of the huge castle. The battle had already begun as the duo could hear in the distance. Screams of the undead echoed through the Hyrule Market. Clashing of swords and flesh seemed to drown out any sign of who had the upper hand. "How many are attacking," Link asked with a turn of his head. Impa looked over gravely. "Around nine hundred. There are only five hundred of us on duty today." Impa and Link burst through the drawbridge gateway with eyes darting as the words escaped her parted, pink lips. Impa sprinted forward to the nearest enemy and began slashing it to pieces with her dagger. She fought amazingly better than any of the knights that were being defeated. Link ripped forward with his beautiful Master Sword whistling through the air. His Golden Gauntlets multiplied his natural strength by hundreds, causing the blade to slice cleanly through the armor scales of Lizalfos and the hard bones of Stalfos. The blindingly shiny blade shattered the bones of the skeletons as he ravaged through them violently on his onslaught of holy terror. "Stupid demons!" While the rest of the battle raged on, Link made mincemeat out of a horde of Lizalfos. They screamed they're reptilian death cries as he ripped they're chest cavities open. They're organs and blood sprayed all over the place like a shower as he quickly turned to meet swords with a set of Stalfos. They're twisted red swords clashed with his own in an array of blue sparks. One of the skeleton men punched Link in the chest with his strong, yet bony arm and sent the smaller young man flying backwards into another one. Just before his back met Link turned his blade around and stabbed the demon in the spine. It fell instantly with no back support as Link gave and evil glare at the one that had pushed him. The skeletons gave a worried look and began to back away as Link rushed for them with his blade poised to destroy. They're bones shattered to dust under the fierce array of slices that the blonde haired man violated them with. He was quickly rushed by several other enemies after the fall of the two skeletons. Impa was doing just as well as Link was with her dagger. She stabbed, sliced and even kicked and punched her way through the line of evil warriors. Several Wolfos attacked her from the side while she was ripping Stalfos to pieces. The huge wolf-like creatures instantly began to bite her and rip her with they're claws. One pounced on her and knocked her to the ground. She stabbed with her dagger, inflicting minimal damage to the furry creatures. She yelped in shock as a strong hand reached down and grabbed her by the arm. It pulled her up with a jerk and brought her to her feet. She instantly ripped into the Wolfos with her dagger until they were whining in death. "Be careful," came the strong masculine voice of General Rile as she turned swiftly to see who had helped her. She gave a quick smile and did several back-flips to her next target. She kicked two chattering skulls off of they're necks and slashed they're legs off violently. Before anything else could attack her, the Shiekah woman summoned Din's Fire from a small crystal and leveled the surrounding area of about forty enemies. Many cheers came from the knights as they saw the circle of death around her. General Rile was doing just fine with his massive broadsword. He darted about, smashing enemies with the razor edged blade. He had killed at least two hundred of the enemy forces within the fifteen minutes he had been fighting. After striking down three Wolfos with his awesome blade, General Rile met swords with an enemy he had hoped he wouldn't have to fight. The black dressed young man's white eyes glowed ominously as he sliced rapidly with his black Master Sword. His black hair drifted from his face in the breeze as Rile attempted to slice him down. "Who are you?" "Link's dark side.Shadow Link." The gravely voice erupted from the young man like a ferocious snarl. He ripped forward violently with perfect accuracy and landed a sharp hit to the powerful General's shoulder. The General cried out in pain as the blade met in the paper-thin gap in his armor and shoulder plate. The perfection at which the evil man fought blew Rile's mind. Shadow Link attempted to slice the man's head off but met blades with the light version of the Master Sword. "What!" "I take it Ganondorf put you in charge of the military." Link parried the blade with his own and kicked Shadow Link in the stomach. The dark man fell back a couple of steps but came back strong with a stab at the blonde haired man's heart. The black Master Sword stopped abruptly and harmlessly on the breast plate that covered Link's entire midsection. The sleek armor repelled the razor sharp blade without taking even the slightest of damage. Link grinned. "Yeah fucker, I got some new equipment. You can't go wrong with Shiekah. You should try it!" Link lurched forward with amazing speed and ripped a gash across his shadow's chest. The white tunic whipped in the steadily increasing wind as he leapt backwards from the quick jab of the other's blade. He didn't even attempt to use his Mirror Shield, which was fastened securely to his back, as he thrashed swords with his nemesis at hand. Shadow Link was beginning to weaken from the loss of blood and backed off with a few flips. "We'll meet again Link, and you're blood will paint the grass of this field red." Shadow Link opened a purple portal behind himself and walked through it. The vortex disappeared with a flash of magical energy. Link shook his head in disgust and headed back to kill off the remaining enemies. "Idiot." The last of the enemies fell with a spear through its heart and the battle ended. The corpses of the defeated enemies suddenly turned to blue flame and disappeared into the ground. All of the remaining four hundred and eighty-five knights stood tall and proud as they composed themselves and headed back to the Hyrule Market. Several helped with the bodies of they're dead comrades. Link and Impa ran back to the castle after wiping they're blades clean of blood. The duo ran into the castle where Zelda was at and apparently had the same idea as they both reached for her doorknob. The two burst in and Zelda grabbed her dagger from the nightstand. The battle had lasted for over an hour and she had begun to worry. "Are you okay Princess? Did anyone.or thing bother you?" "I'm fine. How did the battle go? I take it we won," Zelda asked as she stood from her seat on the bed. She had put on her makeup and dressed in her long, pink dress. Link was utterly stricken by her beauty. She smiled at him. "That's good. Man, I almost got killed out there by a pack of Wolfos. General Rile saved me though. I need to go pay my respects. I'll leave you guys alone." Impa quickly found a way to escape the tension in the room and walked off with a smile in Link's direction. She winked at him and snickered as she left the room." "I hear that you have fought very well. Most of the people in the kingdom are giving they're respects to you, not General Rile." Zelda smiled and looked out the window, which had bright sunlight protruding from it. She looked towards the Hyrule Market and rested against the sill of the window. "They say you are the best fighter in the world. It is true. Only the best fighter in Hyrule can be chosen as a Hero of Time." "I don't know. I don't really care about that." Link walked up behind her and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. She pressed herself into him and began to sob to herself. Link hugged her gently and allowed her to let her emotions. "Promise me you won't ever get killed Link. You are.just don't get killed.I." Zelda wiped her eyes and Link looked into them. "Ganondorf could release Hell on me and I would make sure that I come back alive. Don't worry about me. I've been in worse situations before." Link brushed her hair out of her eyes, trying to define why she was so concerned about him. Why him? He didn't know and he didn't really care. He didn't think he was any better than anyone else. "I need to go prepare for the next battle that is sure to come. If you need me just have someone come and tell me." Zelda nodded and looked back out the window. The blonde haired young man walked out of the large bedroom and headed back to the castle. The presence of another person stopped his travel. He looked to his left to see Impa standing behind a tall blue pillar support. Link waited as she walked towards him slowly. She smiled and shook her head as she noticed his confusion. "Are you emotionally blind man? Can't you tell that that girl loves you more than anything? She would risk her life for you and you can't even tell. Heck, she has risked her life for you in the past." Impa walked with Link down the main corridor leading to the exit and spoke further. "Do you love her or not? Are you a little on the gay side or what?" "Fuck no! That's the sickest fucking thing I've ever heard of." Link snapped disgustedly at her and she laughed. "Of course I love her! Who couldn't? She's the only reason that I decided to kill Ganondorf. The first time it was because she wanted me to. This time I just want to keep her safe from him.what I failed at last time." "I figured. Why don't you just tell her? She has waited seven long years for the day she would get to see you. Just tell her you love her and give some feeling. She has waited all this time and saved herself for you." Impa smacked him in the back of the head with a sigh of frustration. Link shot a cold glare at the Sheika woman and situated his white hood on the back of his head. "It's not the time yet." Link kept on walking as Impa stamped a foot and followed. 


	7. Part 7

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft.  
  
The chambers were dark. Torches were the only source of light in the room. Shadows danced on the walls like the undead and the aroma of rose petals filled the room. Pages turned as massive, strong hands whipped them from left to right. Ganondorf studied all of the material in the book and found nothing of what he was looking for. As his eyes darted at all of the pictures in the 'Book of Hylian History' Ganondorf snorted in disgust. "Nothing.damn." Suddenly, his eyes landed upon a picture of a man. The man looked like an older version of Link. He had a white hood with a white tunic, which was worn overtop of a black bodysuit. The black bodysuit fit around his particularly muscular frame like a glove, perfectly defining his very strong leg and arm muscles. He wore black and silver Shiekah-made Crescent armor over his chest, back, and stomach. The beautifully crafted, indestructible Shiekah armor was lined with gold and had a crescent moon and a Triforce symbol inlaid upon each breastplate. The Hylian/Shiekah warrior wore black gauntlets that greatly resembled the Golden Gauntlets that Link used, only they had a Shiekah moon engraved on the plate above the back of the hand. He wore brown fighting boots and had a set of three glowing gems inlaid into his armor, just above the breastplate. Each gem seemed to glow with the power of one of the sacred goddesses of Hyrule. The Shiekah man's sharp features were adorned with battle tattoos. A blue arch, which came to a narrow point just before reaching the bridge of his nose, began at his hairline. Two sharp, red slashes were tattooed above each of his eyebrows and two small, red slashes arched underneath his glowing, white eyes. They were neat looking Ganondorf decided as he studied them. His eyes finally rested upon the incredible helix shaped sword that the man held in his hands firmly. The blades started at each side of the handle base and crisscrossed between each other at the middle of the blade. The blades molded into one at the tip of the beautiful sword. One of the helix blades was made of a green crystal and the other was made of a blue crystal. The handle was a mixture of both and altogether, the sword itself seemed to glow with magical power. "Amazing. This will be my military leader." Ganondorf ripped the page out and continued through. His beady eyes seemed to take in every detail of everything he read. The pages were old and worn. Some of them even seemed to be completely missing from the book. He turned crinkled page after crinkled page once again until he came across something else that he liked. "Majora's Mask. Hmm. Interesting. It's supposed to be very evil and contain tremendous power." The word caught him like a fly in a spider web. Power. That was the type of thing he was looking for. Ganondorf read further. The book said:  
  
Majora's Mask is a mask of pure evil. It gives one the power to do amazing things. If a person with a righteous heart wears the mask, the spirit of Majora will tempt the person to do bad things. After a while, the once good person is taken over by Majora and they're consciousness is lost forever. If a person who desires to do evil uses the mask, Majora will test they're evilness and grant them the mask's power to avenge his spirit. The mask was cast into a pit of darkness though, never to be seen again.  
  
"Gydo! Get in here!" Ganondorf smacked his fist on the table and awaited the clatter of scared feet on the sandy floors of the Spirit Temple Palace. The small man scuffled into the room nervously and slipped on the dirty floor. He fell on his back and scrambled to his feet again. He saluted and began to sweat as Ganondorf shook his head in annoyance. "Yes Lord Ganondorf, King of Evil, Bringer of Doom, my Dark King sir!" Gydo sputtered as many titles as he could think of to cheer his Lord up and saluted with a sharp smack of his hand to his forehead. He rubbed the small red mark in pain and froze as Ganondorf shot a cold glare. "Stop your inconsistent babbling you stupid fool! Now, where the Hell is the nearest mask dealer?" Ganondorf crossed his arms and awaited a reply. Gydo looked away and thought for a few seconds before answering. "Uh.Hyrule Market sir! Why may I ask do you need a mask my lord?" "I'm looking for the Mask of Majora. I want it now. Tell Shadow Link to shroud himself and go to Hyrule Market. Tell him to get the Majora's Mask or at least find out how to get it. Now, go!" Ganondorf rushed the little man off with a wave of energy and sent him out the door without a question. Gydo ran down the hall to another room and did as his master had commanded. "Master Shadow Link! Ganondorf has an order!" Gydo burst into the room just as Shadow Link was strapping his black Master Sword to his back. Shadow Link looked over ruefully and squinted his glowing white eyes in the darkness of the doorway. "What." "He wants you to travel to Hyrule Market and obtain Majora's Mask from the Happy Mask Shop. He said if you can't get it then find out how to get it and report back immediately." Gydo watched as the dark swordsman strapped his dark Hylian Shield to his back and started for the doorway. He stopped midway and grabbed a black cloak from a wooden chair. He threw it over his shoulders and walked out, pushing Gydo rudely out of the way.  
  
Link and General Rile sat inside the Medicine Shop of Hyrule Market talking. They were filling extra bottles with curative items and making arrows for the archers that were still on duty. Link had polished his new vest of armor and cleaned his white tunic of all the blood stains from battle. His shield, crossbow, and gauntlets all were shiny once again also. He filled several quivers with arrows as Rile filled bottles with glowing potions. "You know? You remind me of the Lead Knight before me. He wore armor almost exactly like yours and had hair just like yours, only his was a silvery color." Rile glanced at Link as he filled yet another bottle with potion. Link looked up with an odd look. "Really? What happened to him," Link asked as he set the quiver down and kicked back. He began to tinker with the small, silver crossbow that Zelda had given him. The General gave a grave look downward as he began. "He was a good friend of mine about twenty some years ago. I served under him. He was the most amazing fighter that I have ever seen, even today. Anyway, I served under him as a commander and followed right behind him into battle when he went. His name was Razial, but we all called him Fierce Deity. It was a fitting name because he fought so viciously with his Helix Sword. He could level a line out of a battlefield with one energy swipe of his sword." "He led us into the final battle during the war with the Shiekah. We all fought bravely and eventually won. When we came back he became very ill with some unknown sickness. He died a week after our victorious battle and was laid to rest in Kakariko Village because that was where his parents lived. He had been a mixed race of Hylian and Shiekah so we buried him in the only Shiekah village in Hyrule." The General paused as Link accidentally pulled the trigger of the crossbow and sent an arrow into the floor. He pulled it out and brushed off the wicked glare of the storekeeper. "What was the graveness all about? What happened that was so bad?" Link loaded another arrow into the crossbow and looked back up. Rile continued. "Well, someone robbed his grave and took his body with them the night after the burial. He was taken to a Shiekah tribe that was stationed outside of Hyrule Kingdom. Somehow they resurrected him and got him to join them. He ceased to be the man known as Razial Fierce Deity and became a murderer for the small Shiekah tribe. He lead into Hyrule a week later a brigade of one hundred Iron Knuckle warriors and butchered many of our people like animals." "Razial was killed by a Garo Master who had been traveling in Hyrule. The Garo played a Healing Song and sent the dead warrior's spirit into a strange mask. Razial's body disappeared. I don't know what happened to the Fierce Deity mask though." Rile filled his last potion bottle and stretched out in the comfortable chair. Link was kicked back with a strange look upon his face. The weather was growing into a storm outside and began to rain lightly. The two brushed it off. "What's wrong?" "Nothing. It's just that I have a mask that looks just like the man you just described. It has silver hair, a white hood like this one, and glowing white eyes. I found it in Termina, a land that is about sixty miles East of here. I have never used it. It's kind of weird." Link glanced over at the General and saw the look of surprise on his face. "What's wrong?" "That's it. Razial had glowing white eyes when he came back to Hyrule. The Garo Master that took the mask was headed to a place called Termina when he left." The General got to his feet and Link followed. "Where is it at? I want to see this thing." "I left my masks in the Temple of Time. Lets go check it out," Link said as he and Rile walked out of the Medicine Shop and headed to the north side of town.  
  
"Your brother has it you say?" Shadow Link scoffed from behind his mask of a robe. "When do you think he will be here?" "He was traveling around the world to get more masks for us to sell. He said he was going to bring back the Majora's Mask also. He is actually supposed to be back from the country by tomorrow. You should wait for him if you really want the mask." A young man with a big smile explained to the dark looking man. Shadow Link nodded and left to look at the town. "Nothing can ever be freaking easy for evil people. Damn." Shadow Link muttered in annoyance to himself as he headed into the Inn. He walked up to the counter and tossed the man a few rupees. The man nodded gratefully as Shadow Link trudged up the stairs to the room he had paid for. It was small and had a soft bed in the corner. He threw the robe off, making sure no one could see and dropped tiredly onto the bed. It had been a long journey all the way from Desert Colossus to Hyrule Market. He didn't even bother removing his equipment as he dozed off to get some rest.  
  
  
  
Link and Rile both pushed the massive doorway to the Temple of Time open and headed inside from the rainy storm. Lightning struck outside, causing the windows to flash like ghosts in the night. Link found his bag containing the four special masks and pulled them out. He dropped the Goron, Zora, and Deku mask to the ground and held up the mask that looked like a Hylian/Shiekah. Rile gasped as he laid eyes on the mask. "It's.him.its Razial. That is him, I know it. I can't believe its back in Hyrule now. It's been so many years since he was put in there." "What should we do with it? I'm going to try it out for a minute." Link held the mask up to his face. Inches before it connected, Rile pulled the mask away. Link gave a questionable glance at the General and crossed his arms. "What?" "We can't do that. He is too powerful to just use out of the blue. He could overtake your conscious. It's almost like a manipulation." Rile looked at the mask and shook his head. "We should take it to the Happy Mask shop and see what he says about it. We can decide from there what to do with it." "Alright. I guess your right." Link sighed as he grabbed his other masks and slid them in a pouch on the side of his tunic. The duo headed out of the huge temple and walked down the road to the Happy Mask shop. It was only about a hundred yards from the temple entrance. As they walked, Link studied the bushes that were planted everywhere and the intricate work of the cobblestone plaza. Everything was so beautifully done. He just prayed he could keep it that way. As they walked into the shop, they were happily greeted by the frail little man that owned it. A big smile was always spread across the young man's face it seemed. He truly made the Happy Mask Shop a happy place to be. Rile laid the mask on the table and the man's smile disappeared. He studied the mask by flipping it, turning it, and feeling the texture of the wood. "This is Fierce Deity's spiritual prison cell. How did you fellas get a hold of it?" "I found it in Termina not too long ago. I never have had a chance to use it. We thought we would take it to you to see what you had to say about it." Link crossed his arms over his armored chest and shook his blonde hair out of his face. The man behind the counter studied them quickly before looking back at the mask. "So are there any dangers in using it?" "Well. Yes. You see, it is meant to only be used against things more powerful than the spirit within the mask. Fierce Deity, although I was too young to know him, was extremely powerful. He is much more powerful than either of you. At least mentally he is more powerful. Now that he is a spirit form his mental capacity is overwhelming. He could possibly take over your mind if you used him outside of a big battle." The red haired man pushed the mask over the counter and back to Link. "I wouldn't suggest using it. I don't want to have anything to do with it either so I don't want to buy it. Just don't let anyone else have- " The man was cut off buy a sudden laughter in the distance. A dark looking man walked in with a black tunic, a bloody sword, and evil eyes. He looked just like Link. Link started to unsheathe his Master Sword, but before he could he and General Rile were blasted to the floor by dark energy. Shadow Link leapt over them and the counter and held his dark Master Sword to the store owner's throat. In his left hand was something that made Link's heart sink to the floor. "Ha, ha, ha! Well it seems that I am killing two birds with one stone, eh? My boss originally told me to try and get Majora's Mask but it looks I will be getting the other one he is looking for also!" Shadow Link cackled as thunder struck outside. "I made a very nice sculpture of your brother also, Mr. Happy Mask Shop. Now hand me the Fierce Deity or they will be meeting in the afterlife!" The store owner burst into tears at the death of his brother and the possibly gruesome death he would soon be issued. Shadow Link made a sickened face and pressed the blade against his throat even further. Link looked over at Rile and then down at the mask in his hands. He threw the mask at Shadow Link and stared him ruefully in the eyes. Shadow Link pulled the blade away and wiped the blood on his hostage's shirt. The man cried even more horribly having his own brother's blood wiped upon him. "Thank you, now if you don't mind, I have to get back to my boss before he gets really angry and decides to come and turn you inside out or something." Shadow Link created a purple vortex and disappeared within it. The store owner ran outside and sobbed over his brother's corpse. The evil swordsman had performed a very sick act. He had cut the man's head off and shoved it in his own bowels by slicing his stomach open. Blood gushed out of all the cuts and lacerations on the twin brother's body. Masks laid all over the streets, soaked with blood and rain. "I don't.believe this has.happened." Link put a hand to his forehead and forced his sanity back together. "Ganondorf just gained the power of Majora and Fierce Deity. We are in serious shit now, Rile. Serious shit." "I know. I know. Let's go console the store owner and help him with his brother. Let's just make sure we are prepared because the next battle is going to be more ferocious than anything we have ever witnessed." Rile walked out the door and almost got sick at the sight of the mangled corpse. Link walked out and just looked away. The horrible stench of blood and death lingered in the midnight air.  
  
Shadow Link walked down the halls of the massive Spirit Temple, singing and dancing with the two masks like a madman. He mimicked the shadows that crept on the walls and stared directly into the fiery braziers that were set up everywhere. His black hair drifted from left to right in his descent to his Lord's room. The sound of his joyous cries and thumping boots gave Ganondorf a sense of a good mood as he read from books to pass the time. Shadow Link burst into the room happily and strode over to Ganondorf's worktable. He tossed both of the retrieved masks in front of him carelessly and unsheathed his dark Master Sword. He sliced and practiced his swordsmanship with the brazier in the corner as Ganondorf scanned over what he had been given. "Excellent work Shadow Link. Just for your dedication to my scheme I grant you a new skill." Ganondorf cast a spell on Shadow Link and a green light erupted from within the young man. He bowed slightly and walked over to the desk and sat down. "Thank you my lord." "I can't believe you managed to get both in one trip. That is incredible. I didn't even think you knew I wanted Fierce Deity." Ganondorf studied both masks incredulously with his beady, evil eyes. Shadow Link kicked back and began to clean his blade from the murder he had committed only an hour ago. "I saw the picture on your desk and remembered you mentioning him. Link had found the mask in Termina a while ago and was talking to the mask guy about it. I gutted the guy's brother and took Majora from him. I thought I would go ahead and grab Deity while I could." Shadow Link looked up with an evil grin. Ganondorf grinned at his secret agent widely. "I put the dude's head in his stomach. Ha, ha, ha." "Good work. That should give Hyrule a little delayed scare." Ganondorf kicked back in his chair and continued to study the masks. "I don't know when I will make my final attack but it will be soon. Maybe three weeks. I don't know. I have a good plan though." "What's that?" Shadow Link scratched the granite ceiling with his sword and made a six-pointed star. Ganondorf looked across the table and grinned evilly. "I'm going to summon a planet. If they don't surrender before the planet strikes Hyrule then they will all die. If it comes to that then we will move on to a new kingdom to take over." Ganondorf cackled to himself and cracked his knuckles loudly. "Won't that destroy the whole planet if you do that though?" Shadow Link slashed an x in the ceiling with his sword and quickly wiped the shards of dust out of his eyes that fell from it. "I'll be careful. I will make it move slowly through the atmosphere. It will only brush against Hyrule and basically scrape it off of the planet. After Hyrule is no more I will send it off into orbit next to this planet. It will serve as a reminder of who is boss." Ganondorf explained his plot and Shadow Link grinned evilly. It was perfect. They couldn't lose. "If it all works out, we won't even have to fight." "I've got to hand it to you man. You are a freaking genius," the dark man replied with a grin. He sheathed his sword and looked back at the masks. Ganondorf held Majora's Mask in his hands and studied it. The swordsman just stared in interest. "Put it on and see what happens." "I guess I should test out this mask now and see if it really works. I wonder what will happen?" Ganondorf studied the mask in his hands and looked back at the Shadow across from him. "Here goes nothing I guess." Ganondorf slowly brought the mask to his face and pressed it forward. The mask seemed to suck itself to his face like a leech. A red light flashed through his vision as the world he had previously been in disappeared. He seemed to be taken to a dimensional gap. He looked around through the eyes of the mask and took it off the instant he realized he still had it on. Everything was a vortex of purple it seemed. Everything seemed to spin around him. He watched as the mask seemed to come alive in his hand. It floated a few feet away from him and soared high into the air. It turned sharply to look at him. "You are very wicked. Your desires reach beyond your frayed ends of sanity. You are evil Ganondorf. You are the King of Evil. Your desires shall be done with my magic. But, you must defeat me to gain it." "That I will do evil one." Ganondorf unsheathed the massive sword from his back and ran at the mask, which had erupted with tentacles and stingers. The yellow eyes glowed mysteriously as Ganondorf sliced at the tentacles with his massive razor. The tentacles shot at his face and whipped at his body like a gigantic octopus. He sliced several to the ground, but it seemed every time he killed one, more would grow in place. "You are powerful Majora!" "Ha, ha, ha!" Majora cackled loudly from all corners of the room. The serpentine voice echoed in his ears. It was a horrible sound he would never be able to forget. It would haunt him in his dreams it was so sinister.more sinister than he could comprehend. Ganondorf ran and sliced at the creature madly. His blade arced in so many ways that they seemed to become one with each slice. Majora upped the pace and began spinning in circles with his razor sharp tentacles. They slashed at his armor but did no harm to the black metal. Ganondorf followed him with a blast of dark energy and sprinted in with his blade to deal a load of damage to the creature. Ganondorf sliced and ripped with his sword, weaving between the tentacles like a fish in a coral reef. Majora began to weaken as each hit sapped more and more energy. He finally began to stop spinning after a heavy slice of the massive blade. His body began to dissipate into a blue flame as he convulsed violently. The serpentine voice echoed about the large room as lights began to swarm around Ganondorf. The mask appeared once again in it's natural state. "You fought well. You truly are the King of Evil. I grant you my magic without further ado. Make the mortals who scrutinized me pay with my power Ganondorf!" Ganondorf squinted his eyes as a white flash erupted from his body. The mask seemed to split apart into millions upon millions of pieces as the light swarmed into a ray upon Ganondorf's large body. Ganondorf laughed triumphantly as the magical light turned to darkness and filled his soul with more magical power than he had ever felt. There was a whipping flash of red and suddenly he was back in the study room. Shadow Link was cowering over his limp body, which hung loosely in the large chair. "Your alive. I thought Majora had like taken your soul or something." Shadow Link sat back down as Ganondorf rubbed his forehead. The man's red hair was messed up and perspiration seemed to drench his brow. The strong Gerudo man sighed and got up. He walked toward a hammock in the corner of the room and dropped tiredly into it. Shadow Link arose and waited for a reply. "I'm so damn tired now. I'm going to grab a couple hours. Don't let anyone touch that Fierce Deity mask. Shadow Link nodded and sat down in the chair, drooping back lazily and attempting get some sleep also. He stared at the star he had made on the ceiling and grinned at the handy work. 


	8. Part 8

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft  
  
Link walked to the castle slowly, taking his time. The dirt beneath his black plated boots made light clouds of dust erupt from the worn path. The sun was just going down, sinking within the abyss of the beautiful blue sky. The sphere of blue surrounding the planet seemed to fade to black as the planet turned on its axis. The finely cut bricks of the castle switched from gray, to orange, to soon, blue, as the moon peered over the mountain pass. Link paid no heed to any of it. His blonde hair ruffled in the wind as it swept through the small valley. It whistled through the trees in it's descent to the Hyrule Market. Grass blades bent and crunched under his footsteps as Link took a shortcut across the front lawn of the castle. There were many knights guarding the castle in the evening. None of them bothered him. He headed down the corridors in the huge castle and headed up flights of stairs to his room. He was just about to walk past Zelda's doorway when he heard a scream of terror within the room. Link lunged into the room and looked for the source of the scream. He saw Zelda being pushed down by a strong looking man of about thirty years old. He had long, greasy black hair, and a cutoff sleeve shirt on. He was undoubtedly trying to rape the girl. Link ran across the room and grabbed the man from atop the girl and threw him to the ground. He growled in anger as he lurched up to grab the young man around the throat. He had very strong arms, Link noticed, as he began to choke him. Link gagged in lack of air as the man pinned him against a wall. "Oh, hell no!" Link's anger peaked finally and he grabbed the man's arms with his hands. The Golden Gauntlets power ripped the man's arms away from his neck easily as Link sent a knee into the large man's stomach. He kicked him to the ground with a roundhouse and leapt on top of him. As Zelda recomposed herself, Link proceeded to furiously punch the man in the face. The gauntlets once again took action with each punch and eventually crushed the man's head into a pile of gore. Link jumped up, his hands dripping with blood, and ran over to the blonde haired girl. "Thank you Link. That is the fifth time that I have almost been raped this year. Someone always saves me though. Thank you Link." Link hugged her tightly and took in the jasper aroma that flowed from her dress and hair. She was so beautiful. Link looked into her eyes as they're faces came close. Zelda pressed her soft lips against his lightly and pulled away quickly in embarrassment. Link did the same. "It was nothing. I'm sorry I made such a mess." Link called for guards to come and haul the dead man away. They clanked in and drug his body out of the room and mopped the blood from the floor. Link walked to his room and went to sleep after the mess was cleaned up. He couldn't stop thinking about the kiss though. "Maybe she really does love me." Link rolled over on his bed and looked out the window. The moon reflected its blue glare on his eyes like two pools of water. He closed them and forgot about the incident as he drifted into a land of dreams. Zelda sat in her own room, nestled into her covers deeply. The satin sheet covered her small body, and the thick comforter kept her warm. She was looking at the same moon. The light shined off of her beautiful eyes like a magical ray. She closed her eyes and forgot, just as Link had, and drifted off to the same world the love of her life was waiting in.  
  
The room stood silent. The only movement in the room was that of the rising and falling chests of the sleeping warriors in the room. Ganondorf lightly rocked back and forth in his large hammock while Shadow Link lazily lay in the cushioned, leather chair at Ganondorf's large desk. Shadow Link stirred in his sleep, causing Gydo to freeze in horror. He could hardly suppress the high-pitched cry that usually erupted involuntarily. He started for the desk once again after he had decided everything was all clear. He reached for the Fierce Deity mask and felt a rush of adrenaline as he placed it to his face. The mask sucked to his face like a suction cup and he began to flail as he screamed for help. The muffled cries were too suppressed to even be heard as Gydo's body was stretched and pulled in odd contortions. His skin felt like it was going to explode as a magical energy descended upon him and sent him into an unconscious convulsion. There was a flash of light and in the short, frail, little man's place was a six-foot three inch tall man with a very muscular frame. He wore the exact same tunic, armor, and bodysuit that Link had just recently begun wearing. He had a utility belt around his waist, which had a small silver crossbow, a silver longshot, and a combat knife attached to it. Across his chest and over his shoulder he had another utility belt strapped. It most likely contained potions, bombs, arrow dust, and other things. The man brushed back his silver bangs, which protruded to his jaw from the white hood containing the rest of his long locks of hair. The powerful man snapped his fingers and a massive sword materialized into his left hand. He grinned as the length of the blade began to glow with magic. The blades started at each side of the handle base and crisscrossed between each other at the middle of the blade. The blades molded into one at the tip of the beautiful sword. One of the helix blades was made of a green crystal and the other was made of a blue crystal. The handle was a mixture of both and glowed ominously at his touch. The black gauntlets that the man wore tightened around the blade as the magic swelled within him. The Shiekah moon on the hand plate suddenly began to glow red as he raised the massive sword over Ganondorf's body. Ganondorf heard the whistling blade only a second before it came crashing down upon his hammock. He rolled off narrowly and dodged the flurry of quick slices that followed. Ganondorf leapt to his feet and blasted a ball of energy into the man's chest. The delay gave just enough time for him to draw his sword and attack the man. "Fierce Deity! How the hell did you resurrect?" "Ha, ha, ha! Your wee little servant made the horrible mistake of misusing my mask! But don't worry, I traded his soul for mine after he transformed! Little Gydo is lost forever! Ha, ha, ha!" Fierce Deity cackled in a deep voice that resembled Link's. Ganondorf parried several more attacks as Shadow Link began to wake at the noise. The dark haired man leapt from his chair and drew his dark Master Sword swiftly. "Fierce Deity," Shadow Link asked in unison with an arc of his sword in the man's direction. It was easily deflected by the huge Helix sword. A swift kick in the ribs left Shadow Link flying into a wall with a loud crash. He went unconscious quickly and dropped his sword. Fierce Deity went after Ganondorf next. Ganondorf slightly shook under the gaze of pure white. It was very unsettling. "Fierce Deity. Razial. I obtained your spiritual mask because I wanted to revive you. I want you to be my military leader." Ganondorf blocked several of the man's fierce blows, barely hanging onto his sword under the strength of the gauntlets the man wore. They seemed like dark Golden Gauntlets and added unimaginable strength to each blow. "What army? What are you trying to do?" The man shook his silver hair out of his eyes and held his sword in front of him stiffly. Ganondorf did the same and kept a steady eye on the man. "I am Ganondorf. I am taking over the kingdom of Hyrule. I want you to help me. I need a good military leader. I also need someone worthy to go to the temples and summon all of the guardians that I have awoken." Ganondorf slightly rested his sword as Deity thought about the proposition. "Why should I? What will I be getting out of this ordeal?" Deity rested his sword on his shoulder and awaited the reply. Ganondorf thought for a moment. "You will rule beside me as my right hand man. Hyrule will be ours. We will then go and conquer other nations with our power. What do you say," the red haired man asked as he sheathed his blade. Fierce Deity dematerialized his Helix Sword and crossed his strong arms over his armored chest. He studied the man's face for a few moments and nodded. "Okay. But, if you betray me, I will kill you myself." Deity smiled evilly as Ganondorf scowled. He gave a doubtful look as the smaller man reached his hand out. "Deal." Ganondorf grabbed Fierce Deity's hand for the shake. Fierce Deity only squeezed lightly with his powerful gauntlets but there was a crack in Ganondorf's hand. The taller, broader man pulled his hand away quickly and wringed it in pain. He turned swiftly and walked back to his desk. Deity just sat down and awaited Shadow Link to wake up. "Who is he?" Deity motioned to the dark looking young man in the corner. "Shadow Link. You see Link is my arch nemesis. He is the only one who has the power to take me down. To counter him I created an evil version of him with my magic. Shadow Link knows every sword and physical movement Link does except he is more vicious. You will be working with him a lot, so get to know him." Ganondorf opened a book as he explained. "Interesting. So what is my first mission?" Fierce Deity jumped straight to the point. Ganondorf looked up with a sinister grin playing across his face. "I'm going to have you lead an army into Hyrule while I summon a planet. I want you to kidnap Princess Zelda and bring her back here. I will send Shadow Link to kill Link." Ganondorf was interrupted by laughter. "You're going to summon a planet? What the hell would you do that for?" Deity kicked back in the chair and flipped through one of the large books on the table. Ganondorf sighed and shook his head. He slicked his long, red hair back and looked up. "I'm going to bring a planet next to ours and threaten to destroy Hyrule by making it crash into it. If the Hylians don't surrender then they will be attacked in full force by our army. If they are still alive and manage to kill off our army, I will transport us out of Hyrule and scrape the planet against Hyrule. It will totally wipe it off of the map." Ganondorf cracked his knuckles. Then we can go in and I can finally take the whole Triforce. We will be gods." Ganondorf smiled as Fierce Deity cackled insanely. "Your are a genius Ganondorf. Pure and whole, a genius." Fierce Deity's cackling woke Shadow Link from his unconscious state. He looked up and grabbed his sword. He sheathed it casually and awaited an explanation. The two just looked at him oddly. "I got Fierce Deity to join us. He killed Gydo though, so we won't be seeing much of him anymore." Ganondorf broke the silence with his massive, booming voice. Shadow Link just nodded in compliance. "When are we going to start the summoning, gathering, and killing," Shadow Link asked with a slight smile. "I'm itching to start." "Very soon.very soon." 


	9. Part 9

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft  
  
Hyrule Market was very lively. The afternoon sun shone directly over the large city and a light breeze randomly whipped around the wooden buildings. Many people bustled about with they're daily lives as if nothing was happening to the world around them. It seemed that people tried to forget the madness. They often ignored the hundreds of knights that were stationed everywhere. Link and General Rile walked through the city, overlooking everything, ready for any sudden strike against them. The sun shone off of Link's Mirror Shield and vest as it reflected off of Rile's heavy armor that covered most of his body. Link didn't really feel comfortable wearing the metal vest. He knew it had saved his life numerous times on the battlefield, but he was so used to just wearing a tunic that it felt out of place. He did look very impressive in the armor vest and white and black clothes. Everyone seemed to look at him more because he looked more like a powerful knight than a Kokiri wannabe. He looked over at Rile who was at his left and brushed off the matter. "Does anybody know where Ganondorf is hiding out at?" "It's rumored that since he was the Gerudo King of Thieves, he has made his palace at the Spirit Temple. But, like I said, it's all rumor. I don't know," Rile said with a shrug. He kept on walking towards a café with the younger man. "We're going to have a really bloody battle before long I think." "Hmm. Probably. How many knights do we have to fight with us," Link asked with a perplexed look as he studied a few knights who were standing outside the café. The all had stern looks upon they're faces and held they're spears and swords with perfect posture. They always saluted the General when he walked by. "We have one-thousand six-hundred and eighty two in all. Thank God that we are more skilled than Ganondorf's army. We would have been killed off easily by now." Rile pushed his hair back and rested his hand on his sword hilt as he sat down. Link did so also. "It's kind of odd that it is so peaceful today. We usually get stricken by at least a few Stalfos by noon. It's almost four right now. Looks like the sun is starting to go under now." Link unsheathed his sword quietly, as to not interrupt anyone and began to clean it for battle. He liked the scared looks on the faces of evil as he wielded the shiny blade as if it was a limb of his body. "I wonder what he has for us today." "I don't know. I hope he just takes a day off." Rile ordered a cup of coffee and drank it slowly as he watched the young man clean his sword. He gazed at his reflection in the blade from a few feet away and was mesmerized. "That's a nice sword. What was it? The Master Sword?" "Yeah, it's the sword of the Hero of Time." Link cleaned the blade with a small rag and oiled it with a small container he produced from a utility pouch across his chest. He laid the flat of the blade across his lap and cleaned any dirt from the Triforce grooves. "What's it made of? Looks pretty solid." Rile cocked his head to look at the blue handle. Link smiled at the sudden interest. He loved the Master Sword. It fit him so perfect. It was almost as if it was made for him. "I don't know exactly. It was forged by the sacred goddesses of Hyrule before they returned to the heavens. They blessed it with indestructibility and placed it in the pedestal of time. The handle is made of some type of indestructible sapphire I think. It's impossible to damage." Link finished cleaning the blade and sheathed it in the golden sheath on his back. "So you defeated Ganondorf not too long ago with it?" "Well, eight years ago I did, but yeah, I did once. He's not as tough as one would think after you really get down to fighting him. Then again, he has gotten extremely powerful since last time." Link put a hand to his forehead and sighed. Rile just arched an eyebrow. "Headache?" "Sort of. I just remembered that Ganondorf obtained the power of Majora. I never should have helped that mask guy get that mask when I was in Termina. Ganondorf is like a god now. I totally forgot." Link looked out the window. Clouds were beginning to role in from the west. His eyes focused on the slowly invading clouds as they passed over the field. It was difficult to tell whether they were real or magical. "Here comes a storm it seems. I hope this isn't his army again." "We'll find out in about a half hour I guess. Do you think we should call a brigade to be ready?" Rile stood up and walked outside with the blonde haired young man. "It could just be a regular storm." Lightning cracked in the distance and left a massive tree falling to the ground. It hit with a loud crash that could be heard miles away and began to burn. It lit much of the tall grass surrounding it on fire and began to riptide towards the front of the castle walls. It wasn't natural. "Hmm. Well I guess that means that we aren't going to have a peaceful frolic in the field today." Rile ran off and ordered all of the knights he could find to be at alert. Link readied himself for battle and dusted his crossbow arrows with the magical power of fire, ice, and light.  
  
"This isn't going to be pretty." Link muttered his curses as he ran towards the main gates and pulled his Goron mask out. The big eyes and large smile carven into the mask were very childlike but the blond haired young man knew what kind of devastating power was held within the wooden mask. "Archers get to the top of the wall and light your arrows on fire! Any enemy that invades should be fired at ruthlessly! Knights! Ready your swords and spears! We have an estimated two thousand invaders heading toward the castle! They also seem to have a new military leader and he looks lethal, so watch your backs men!" Rile unsheathed his blade and held it high before charging it forward. He and the rest of the thousand some knights behind him charged through the drawbridge gate and readied to fight to the death. Enemies were closing in from all sides now. All of the same enemies they had fought before were heading with a desire to kill. It wasn't but a few minutes before they reached the first line of knights. Rile ripped forward with his blade and began his slaughter. The sharpness of the Biggoron Sword shredded the competition like the reaper. He clashed swords with a Stalfos while his fellow knights guarded his back. The skeleton warrior went to the ground screaming within seconds as Rile sliced him in half and began his next attack. Several knights were ganging up on a group of Lizalfos. The lizard men hissed in fury and whipped they're blades in huge arcs. The knights stabbed and slashed with they're spears and swords as the Lizalfos made no succession in killing them. The blades ripped them to pieces under the sharpness. The Hylian knights seemed to fare very well but they were still in the midst of a massive battle. The hordes of enemies still penetrated like a needle into raw skin. Link dashed through the Hyrule Market. He stayed close to the main wall and held onto the Goron Mask tightly. The wall was huge, he noticed, as he made his way to the furthest edge of the city. There was a small crack in the wall that he would be able to crawl into and make his way behind the enemies. Archers fired arrow after arrow into the hordes of enemies gathered in front of the moat. The fire that erupted on impact drove them back slightly. Link came to the crack and readied himself for a rush of adrenaline. His gauntleted hands gripped the wall tightly and left indents in the stone as he climbed. "Just a little further," Link growled as he made his way to the top and obtained odd looks from the poised archers atop. He paid no heed as he leapt over the edge of the fifty-foot wall and rolled to a soft landing below. The archers eyes just bulged as the watched him land with ease and run behind the huge field of enemies. He got about a hundred yards behind them, next to the entrance of Lon Lon Ranch and took a breath. His white tunic flapped in the wind and lightning flashed across his shiny armor vest as he looked down at the mask in his hand and smiled evilly. "Playtime guys." The mask sucked to his face like a leech. His skin began to contort in painful looking ways as his body began to take the form of a Goron. He had never used a magical mask as an adult though. He didn't know what kind of effect it would have on him. The magical lights erupted from him and he looked ahead with a sort of fisheye view of things. He looked down at himself and was shocked to see that not only was he a Goron now, he was one of the rare, Big Gorons. That must have been the effect masks had on adults. Link crouched into a ball and rolled forward with the several tons of weight that was his new body. His brown body gained more and more speed with each rotation. He was traveling well over a hundred miles an hour by the time he reached the massive battle. Just before he struck the first line of enemies, fire squelched around him and spikes retracted out of his back. The four- foot spikes gleamed as the burning fire whipped around his body. He plowed through at least twenty of Ganondorf's forces just with his entrance to the battle. The enemies screamed as they're limbs were severed and they're bloody bodies burned to death. Several Stalfos were wounding a single knight near the moat so Link managed to rip the skeletons to pieces on his rampage. He dodged several of his own men as he ripped the enemies to shreds. Before he ran out of room to roll, Link had already killed around six hundred of the nemesis army. The knights roared with joy as they watched Link transform back into himself. He instantaneously unsheathed his Master Sword and lurched into the nearest fight. Several Stalfos had just got done gutting a knight nearby but his friend was still barely fending for his life. Link charged an energy slash and knocked the skeletons to the ground like a tsunami of magical energy and shattered bones. The knight nodded in thanks and ran to the next enemy. Link charged through the hordes of enemies with his blade and left a trail of blood. Bones, blood, scales, and fur were all splashed about as he made his onslaught a bloodbath. Rile met up next to him from within the reaches of the battle and they paired up to fight to the death. They slashed, parried, ripped, sliced, and jabbed with they're powerful swords like a living gauntlet machine. They charged through at least two hundred enemies together and left nothing standing in they're path. As they reached the edge of the battlefield they found something they had wished not to see. "Ganondorf! What the fuck are you doing!" Link shouted in fury as he looked up about a hundred feet into the air. The massive hulk of a sorcerer was concentrating with his hands raised to the skies. Magical energy swarmed around his body like a vertigo of evil aura. The purple, green, red, and blue energy swarmed around his fists like a sphere of Din's Fire. The wind seemed to pick up around him as perspiration ran from his face. He closed his brown eyelids to concentrate and paid absolutely no heed to the battle or people around him. Link charged a Light Arrow in his small, silver crossbow and pulled the trigger in Ganondorf's direction. "Shit," Link cried in annoyance as another arrow with a purple aura of darkness sped out of nowhere and snapped his own arrow in two only inches away from Ganondorf's chest. He tried again and the same thing happened. Next he whipped his Mirror Shield from his back quickly and blocked another of the Dark Arrows on it's shiny surface. "Where the hell are you, you bastard?" "I'm right here you little pestering fly. Stray from things you cannot control weakling. I will not let you hinder our plans little one." The words erupted before the figure even arose over the hill beyond. The gentle trot of Ganondorf's armored horse echoed in Link and Rile's ear cavities as he emerged from the shadows. The black horse with the red eyes snorted with a rush of steam against the cold air that was blowing from the Zora River. Fierce Deity smirked and gave a snicker. He was dressed exactly like Link. "I see you are trying to copy my attire little boy. I suppose that is legal by my terms but you will never succeed me. Ha, ha, ha." "Razial. You've resurrected. Just tell me." Rile held his sword firmly in front of him. "Why? Why did you turn to evil?" "I just realized that evil is so much more fun. The only way to get rid of temptations is to give into them. Why not have some fun and kill some people? What is the harm there General Rile?" Fierce Deity belted out a long cackle of shredded sanity and looked up at Ganondorf who was concentrating, oblivious to the outside world. Link took an urging step forward and held his bloody sword close to himself, stiffly with anger. "What? Do you fellows want to play swords? So be it." Fierce Deity leapt into the air in a flash of lightning and materialized his large Helix Sword in his hands. He came down hard to the duo, who were shocked at the impressive speed.and weapon. Fierce Deity buried the sword in the ground and threw the two backwards with a blast of energy that erupted from the ground. Rile leapt up quickly to find a huge Helix smashing downward to him. He matched the blade with his own large blade and flipped it sideways. Fierce Deity parried quickly and struck Rile in the chest with a swift kick. The very muscular man cackled as Rile went unconscious on the ground, a large dent in his breastplate. Link was still lying on the ground. "Get up you weakling!" Fierce Deity walked over to Link and nudged him with his crystalline blade. Link shot upwards with amazing speed and chanted something. Fire suddenly blazed from his Master Sword as he spun it in a lightning quick spiral and sent Fierce Deity a slice across the chest. Sparks flew from the breastplate but no damage was done to the solid Crescent Armor. Link came down hard with the shiny blade and found it blocked by the incredible warrior's sword. It arced sideways and opened a hole for a solid kick to the armored chest. Link to the chance and hit only air. "Yeah right." Fierce Deity did several reverse flips away and held his large sword behind him. He arched it strongly and sent a wave of energy forth in a line. The energy erupted like a spell and traveled so quick that Link didn't even know what hit him. After the flash dissipated, the powerful Shiekah/Hylian man was gone. His words still echoed in Link's ears though. Rile awakened as Link watched Ganondorf perform his evil deed in the skies. Rile looked up curiously and back to the blonde haired young man next to him. "What is he doing man?" Rile's graying hair fluttered in the wind as it whistled between the cracks in his armor. Link looked over with an infuriated look painted on his face. Rile looked back up as the man's aura grew even larger. "I don't know but we are about to find out. I don't think we are going to like it either." Link brushed his hair back as he looked down at his useless crossbow. The arrows didn't have a chance of breaking through the aura. "Lets just wait until he comes down and then we will kick his ass. Yeah you heard me Ganondorf! I'm going to kick the living shit out of you!" Ganondorf suddenly began to cackle. He obviously heard what the man had said from below. "Watch closely Link! You're going to have some serious problems in a minute! Either give in or Hyrule will be destroyed!" "Hell no! We'll never give into you, you sick bastard!" Link raised his sword with fury in his eyes. Rile followed the act. Ganondorf laughed casually. The duo were used to hearing at least someone cackling like a madman. "Then watch you fools of Hyrule! The harvester of your deaths will soon be rearing its beautiful face! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Ganondorf raised his hands to the sky and expelled the energy like a tidal wave from his palms. He slowly began to pull backwards as the energy connected with a tiny star, visible millions of miles from Hyrule. The star was soon surrounded by the energy like a force field and disappeared under the sphere of light. It began to move towards them slowly. "What are you doing Ganondorf," Link and Rile cried out in anger. The rest of the military had defeated Ganondorf's forces and were starring in disbelief at the horrific scene that was unfolding in the skies. The star came closer and closer. Minutes passed by before the star became colorful with green and blue. It was not a star, everyone came to understand, as the movement of water, clouds, and atmosphere became slightly visible. The marble approaching them was a planet. "Surrender your kingdom or I will bring out my power to the fullest upon you worthless souls. If you don't surrender, I will scrape Hyrule straight from the map," Ganondorf explained as he pulled further and further. The planet began to move slowly and more slowly as the sweat dripped from the strong sorcerer's face. Everyone seemed to back away as the atmosphere was slowly broken and merged with the atmosphere of the planet above. Many civilians had come to see the event but were now screaming for they're lives as the planet suddenly stopped and loomed above them, only about two miles from they're heads. Link's eyes just widened. Rile stared with a dropped jaw. "Now you know how serious I am foolish Hylians!" Ganondorf suddenly created one of his vortexes and disappeared within it. The planet was left staring at them. It seemed to have fallen into orbit with they're planet. Link shook his head as thoughts ran through his head that would have chosen insanity over sanity if prompted to. His eyes narrowed as he wiped his blade clean and sheathed it. He started back to the castle, walking over dead, bloody corpses in his return. Blood was splattered on his armor and his hood was knocked completely off of his head by the strong winds blowing between both planets. Long locks of golden hair draped out of the white hood as it came free. They settled below his shoulder blades as he angrily snatched it from the ground. Link shook his hair to loosen it and slung the white hood over his shoulder. "I don't fucking believe this shit.damnit," Link cursed and raved as he made his way to the castle. Bystanders eyed him oddly. He was slowly losing it. As he climbed the staircase leading to the main chamber he came to realize that things were a little too quiet. He quickened his pace as he made it to the hallway containing Zelda's and his own room. He stopped at the shut door of the girl's room and cocked his head. He kicked the door open and readied his crossbow to fire if necessary. He didn't find any rapists, murderers, or dead corpses, but he found one close to the last. Impa moaned in pain as she clutched her side and made a deathbed of the cold stone floor. "Link. save Zelda," Impa uttered the words as the blond haired man rushed to her aid. His locks of hair rested on her shoulders as he held her up and hugged her to give a slight bit of comfort. The wound was not horrible but it bled badly and he knew she needed a doctor. Link helped her to Zelda's bed and wiped the blood from the stab wound in her lower stomach. He cut the fabric away and studied the wound. He ran out and called a doctor. The medic that was stationed downstairs came rushing up. He never was of much use due to the lack of injuries that people even got in the castle but he was ready to take action. The brown haired man sterilized the wound and told Link he should go. "Link. Your shadow kidnapped her." Impa uttered the last words as the morphine the doctor had given her settled in her system. He proceeded to begin the small surgery as Link promptly left the room. As he reached the outside, the blonde haired man noticed that the battle was almost cleaned up. There were few knight casualties. The remaining knights put the dead corpses of Lizalfos, Wolfos, and Redeads on a large trailer and proceeded to haul them to the woods to become one with nature again. "I don't believe this. This is horrible." Link wiped the blood from his armor and pulled his hair back into his hood. He walked to the café and sat down. Rile finished giving commands to his men and followed him inside. Rile wiped his face of a trickle of blood and sat back down to his cup of coffee. He was tattered badly from battle, but it didn't affect him. He glanced at Link with a tired gaze and snuffed. "This week just keeps getting better and better. What happens now, we get crushed by a planet? Fucking great." Rile cleaned his Biggoron Sword and shook his head. The elder man looked over to Link. "I'm leaving to get Zelda back. Shadow Link kidnapped her while we were fighting. At the crack of dawn tomorrow.I'm going to that damn Spirit Temple." Link cracked his knuckles and rubbed his eyes. Rile sighed. He shook his head as he noticed the immense stress upon the young man beside him. It had to be tough being the Hero of Time. It was tough enough just being in the same place as him. "So you are going to go to the Spirit Temple? You've got a lot of nerve to break right into Ganondorf's own palace. I can't go with you either. If anymore battles erupt I have to be here to give orders." Rile shook his head and scraped his stubble of a beard. He looked at Link's chin and noticed that he never even seemed to grow any facial hair. What a pretty boy, Rile thought. "Just don't get your ass killed in there." "I've infiltrated his hideouts before, I can do it again. I'm in love with Zelda, General. I have to save her. I have to do this on my own." Link rested his forehead on the coffee table and let out a long sigh of frustration. His white tunic was stained by dirt and blood. He smelled like the stench of dead warriors, he noticed and stood up. "I'm going to go clean up. I'm not fighting anymore today. I am going to a have a very bad morning tomorrow." "Right. Well best of luck.friend." Rile uttered the last word as if it were his last breath. Friend. The last real friend he had had was Razial. Now the acclaimed Fierce Deity was his worst enemy. Friendships die with the past he guessed.no big deal 


	10. Part 10

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft  
  
Link pulled his metal vest off and dropped it in a large tub of water in his showering room. It wouldn't rust, he knew, so he scrubbed the dirt and blood from it and left it hanging from a door knob to air dry. He stripped his tunic, hood, boots, and bodysuit uncaringly, with the door hanging wide open. He tossed them in the tub and left them to soak with liquid soap saturating them. He turned on the waterspout in the shower shut the red, satin curtain. The water drizzled down his muscular frame as it soaked his shoulder length hair. The ends sharpened to what looked like golden ice sickles as he lent his head under the warm water and rested against the wall. He scrubbed his body of the grime that had gathered over the past battles and cleaned the dried blood from under his fingernails. This was a nightmare. How many times would this happen? Would he ever die? Would Ganondorf ever just stop trying to take over the world? Probably not, this was his destiny, or else his fate. He would never truly ever have a life. He would always have to fight. He did like being a warrior though. It was a vigorous lifestyle, but it was interesting. He just wanted a break from fighting for awhile though. "This sucks." Link closed the waterspout and got out. He dried his body with a nearby towel and wrapped it around himself. He heard a snicker from the doorway as he pulled his clothes out to dry. Impa walked in holding her bandaged side. Link didn't even look. "Feeling any better?" "Yes, very much so. So do you normally take showers and dry yourself off right in front of people, or is it just a special occasion?" Impa smiled and helped him hang his clothes to dry, eyeing his body at the same time. He didn't seem to care. "No. I just don't really care at the moment." Link shook his head and sat down. "I'm going to save Zelda in the morning. I won't be here tomorrow." "Good idea. You know, you don't want her to get hurt or anything-" Impa was cut off sharply. Link glared daggers. "They won't do anything to her. They can't even touch her because she is pure holiness. Why do you think they always put her in a crystal when they kidnap her?" Link tightened the towel so it wouldn't fall down. Impa raised an eyebrow. "The only thing they want from her is the Triforce of Wisdom. I can't let them extract it from her either." "Okay. You're right I guess." Impa sighed. "Just don't let her get hurt. I'm going to bed. It's getting late. Best of luck to you." "Thanks."  
  
The sun wasn't even over the horizon by the time Link was ready to go. He loaded an arrow in his crossbow and made sure he had secured his sheath and armor to himself. He tightened his black boots securely and headed for the door. The faint tide of blue was just beginning to break over the edge of the mountain pass as he called Epona with his Ocarina of Time. The notes echoed through the dew- covered plains like chirps of birds, followed by the faint clap of hooves in the distance. Epona had been staying near Zora's River to drink the tasty water there. She nuzzled his side as he petted her softly. Link leapt up and onto her back and looked around the field. "Well girl, lets go to Gerudo Valley, eh?" Link made a sound and nudged her side. The horse blasted off towards the plateau region where the sun was just starting to rise. They ripped across the field swiftly, not even paying attention to the Poes, and monsters that stared angrily at them. The grass blades bent as the strong hooves mashed them down. As they made they're way inside, they came to a broken bridge. It seemed to have no hindrance as they leapt across it easily. Link stopped Epona before they entered Gerudo Fortress and gave her a carrot. He jumped off of her back and started for the entrance. The thieves paid no mind to him. He had proven himself long before of who he was and they only nodded as he started for the wasteland of a desert. The thieve that ran the gateway to the desert was standing atop a large structure with her hand resting on the rope wheel. She had long red hair and wore purplish colored pants with intricate designs sewn into them. She studied him with her wine colored eyes and smiled. She pulled the wheel towards her and cranked the large metal gate upward. The blonde haired man walked through the desert holding his hand to his face to block the blowing sand. The shards of stone whipped through the air like millions upon millions of insects, pecking and biting at his face. Link ran forward to get past the painful wasteland as quickly as possible. The sand shards deflected from his armor and made soft dings that proved how quickly the wind was blowing. He shook his head as he came to a small stone structure in the middle of the desert. Beyond the half buried structure the sand blew even more fiercely and was clouded by a wall of wavering heat. "Should have brought my Lens of Truth I guess.damn." Link shook the sand off of his body and wiped it from his face. His black boots left imprints the sand as he walked down into the small structure. Upon entering he found something slightly odd.a fireplace with a flame in it. It didn't seem that anyone was there so he sat down and took a rest. The fireplace felt good. The air was still very cold from the desert evening. He looked around and found the walls to be old and worn. The bricks were sand corroded and had small holes sunken into them. "You again? I never thought I would see you again," came a voice from the dark doorway. Link leapt and unsheathed his Master Sword swiftly. There was a chuckle and a rush of freezing air as a Big Poe emerged. It had tattered, purple clothes and had glowing orange eyes sunken underneath a shadow-casting hood. "I take it you want to go to the Spirit Temple, eh Link?" "I remember you now. Sorry I drew my sword. It's a natural reaction to disturbances." Link sheathed the shiny blade. The ghost didn't seem fazed by the reaction at all. He was a ghost after all. "I don't want to bug you or anything but I don't really want to get lost and starve to death out there or something." "I guess I can help you. I don't really have much to do these days. Everybody is already scared due to Ganondorf's rein at the Spirit Temple so there is no one to haunt these days. I suppose I can take you there." The Big Poe laughed mildly and poked at the fire with a stick. He didn't seem like a normal Poe. He wasn't evil. Evil always jumped away from the Master Sword due to its purity. "Why don't you just transport with your little flute thing?" "It won't work due to the evil aura that is surrounding the Desert Colossus lately. I have to travel there on foot." Link sighed and emptied the sand that had collected inside his boots. He never wanted to see another grain of sand in his whole life. "Okay, well, lets go then. You'll have to find a way back because I won't wait on you." The ghost floated out of the doorway as it spoke and Link followed quickly. He covered his face to protect his lungs and followed the ghost, who held a green flame in his hand to signal where he was. Link followed the best he could and averted his eyes from as much sand as possible. The moon slowly began to become visible in the slowly lightening sky. The waves of heat dissipated as they came closer and closer to Desert Colossus. "We're here. Be careful." The ghost laughed and disappeared with a rush of cold air. Link brushed the sand away again and walked into the massive desert oasis with his sword ready to kill anything that opposed. The moon seemed to shine directly off of the blade as he crept towards the Spirit Temple ahead of him. He stopped at the small pool of water before he headed in and washed up. The water felt good in the dry desert, but he knew he had to hurry. "Time to go," Link said as he headed to the entrance of the large temple. The steps were corroded with time and seemed to crumble under his feet as he made his entrance. He ran through the hallways with his sword ready to kill, passing doorways that looked suspicious. He had no idea where the girl would be. He studied the doorways that had torches around them and pressed his ear to the stone. He heard nothing, so he pushed a small switch to open the doorway. It slid open with a grinding sound and stopped abruptly inside the wall. The room was dark and contained nothing of interest. Link shook his head and turned back. The shadows danced across his figure as he came to another room. His Master Sword gleamed under the light, which erupted from the torches in the room. He walked in and found bars securely falling behind him. He sighed and gripped the hilt tightly, ready for the attacker. A single Skultulla spider hung from the ceiling with its fang's dripping with poison. Link couldn't help but snicker as he unsheathed four and a half feet of death from his back. He walked forward and thrust the broadsword into the spider's skull-like face. An sadistic scream erupted from the fire which burned from the wound. The Skultulla disappeared within seconds as Link headed to the door at the other end of the room. "This must be the path to her cell." Link passed through the doorway and looked around. It was dark and it didn't seem there was anything in the room. Link stood up straight and glanced around. The room was long and narrow. Several pillars stood on each side of the room. Under his feet and leading to a large chair at the end of the room was a long, red carpet. This was all too familiar. The lights suddenly seemed to penetrate the shadows as Link readied his Mirror Shield and Master Sword.  
  
Fierce Deity and Ganondorf lazed about in the red haired king's office. Both of them were reading out of books and had they're impressive swords laid upon the table. Ganondorf looked up. "I wonder if there are any inhabitants of the planet I summoned." "I would assume because I have noticed odd looking lights that radiate onto Hyrule Field from above. Its very weird," Fierce Deity snapped his book shut with one hand and nearly crushed it with his powerful gauntlets. He set it down and looked up at Ganondorf. "I wonder if they are advanced as much as we are." "I don't know," Ganondorf said before cackling loudly. "But, after we have Hyrule in our palms we can go there and take over they're worthless little planet. This is going to be quite fun." "Yeah, but like I said, we don't want them to be more advanced than us. What if they try to overtake us?" Fierce Deity brushed his silvery hair back and straightened his tunic. "That would suck." "Don't worry about that. Advancements or not, I can find a way to take them down. You see, people are stupid and they don't think things through before they act." Ganondorf smiled and slowly turned his head towards the door. Fierce Deity narrowed and noticed the faint sound himself. "Who is in charge of guarding Zelda? Somebody better be because I haven't extracted the Triforce of Wisdom from her yet." "Shadow Link said he would watch her. Surely he can take care of her." Fierce Deity sharply glanced over at his boss. "You don't think He came to save her do you?" There was a loud crash in the distance, followed by a growl. The waves echoed down the halls and into the evil duo's ears. Hands grabbed swords immediately as the two leapt up and ran out to the main hall. They sprinted to the room the sounds were coming from and found the first guard dead. "He killed the Skultulla. That mean he is fighting the Iron Knuckles. He's dead meat." "I wouldn't count on it Deity. He's taken on two at a time before and beat them to death." Ganondorf hacked at the large stone door with his sword but came to no avail at knocking it down. He could hear the ensuing battle in the next room. Fierce Deity just leaned against the wall and waited for the door to open.  
  
"Shit." Link whispered, rolling behind a pillar that held up the ceiling. A huge axe swung through the stone pillar and once again he had to role away. "He's improved his Iron Knuckles a bit I suppose." Link ran at the armored robot and thrust the Master Sword at it. The armor barely bent. Link did a three set back flip away, and the Iron Knuckles began its strides over to him. Aiming with the longshot, he jumped from side to side, avoiding the random swings of the axe. He shot the grappling hook at the robot and jerked back before the pull could propel him forward. The hook came racing back, ripping a chunk of the armor with it. "Perfect," he said and did a jumping slash to end the Iron Knuckles life. It disappeared into a burst of flame while Link quickly dashed to the next room. The next chamber was dark. He glanced around quickly, adjusting to the shadows. He could hear Ganondorf and another mysterious person in the room behind him. He glanced at the middle of the room and gasped. There was a red crystal floating above a small stone cubicle in the middle of the fairly small room. There were four different pads around the room, which had glowing pools swishing around in them. Link paid no heed to anything else but the girl though. "Zelda. you're alive." Link gasped and ran over to the red crystal, which held the girl within. Reaching for the Master Sword, he hacked at the strong crystal until she fell from its grasp. He broke her fall by catching her with his strong arms. Her small body was so light, he noticed. She fluttered her eyes open and almost leapt back when she focused on Link's face. "Link.? What happened.?" she said in the same voice he had heard from her so many times before. It was soft and soothing, and almost had a note like value to it. He listened to the serenading pureness of her voice and replied. "It's been seven years Zelda." Link started as her memory slowly began to come back. "Ganondorf is wreaking havoc on Hyrule. He has revived all of our old enemies and. obtained Majora's Mask." "Majora!? This cannot be happening!" she gasped and leapt up. "Oh, it is happening. wait until you see what he has done." Link said, pulling her across the room at the sound of the two men entering the room he had just exited. "Oh shit." Link whispered as he noticed metal bars sliding over the doorway he was getting ready to exit the room with. They were locked in with whatever was in the room with them. Link held Zelda tightly and looked around with his sword in one hand. Something was in the room but he couldn't place his finger on it. or his sword. An old man with wrinkly skin and a long, white beard slowly began to rise out of one of the glowing portals in nearest corner of the room. "God, he has Wizrobe too? Zelda, stand back and keep yourself covered in a magic barrier while I kill this guy!" "Okay.." She sighed and concentrated. Link readied his mirror shield for the onslaught of the sorcerer Wizrobe. The old man, rose out of the small portal and threw a wave of fire at Link. He caught it in the reflection of the mirror and reflected it back at him. The old man cried out and disappeared again. He rose across the room and was aimed at Zelda, giggling madly. Sighing, Link rolled over to her and blocked the flame with the shield, hitting Wizrobe again. Finally, the sorcerer went down with a third hit of his own flame. "Link! The little shit got her!" Ganondorf bellowed as he kicked through the red crystals on the floor. The two had just ran out of the room as Ganondorf had entered. He cursed violently and smashed several of the crystals. Only the Master Sword was capable of cutting through dark magical crystal. It was Link and he knew it. "We just lost both of the key items that I need at the moment. Now they are getting away." "You think." Deity mocked as he pounded on the door they had just gone through. His large muscles were like rocks as he broke chunks of the stone away with each smack. He shook his silver bangs out of his eyes and looked back to Ganondorf. Before the grate was even completely opened, Link pulled Zelda and flew out the door. They were shocked to find nothing but a river underneath them. way down underneath them. As soon as they had started to fall they were in the cold river, floating away to wherever the strange river led. Link supported Zelda above the water and kept her safe from drowning. She looked so beautiful, Link noticed as she clutched him tightly. "Yes. They'll get what is coming to them though." Fierce Deity grinned inwardly as he tightened his grip around the green crystalline handle of his sword. "Next time he will understand true pain while I am draining every drop of blood from his body through his concave eye sockets. Ha, ha, ha." "I like how you think Deity." 


	11. Part 11

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft  
  
"Hold on to my arm. and do not let go!" Link shouted over the roaring waters. She did so and he fired his longshot at a tree hanging over the cliff in front of them. They both were propelled upward as Link pulled them over the edge with the powerful strength of the golden gauntlets. The afternoon sun warmed them from the cold water and they took a long embrace.  
  
"Thank you. Link." she said after a moment of perfect silence. "Hey, I'm your Hero of Time, right? I always come around don't I?" Link smiled into her beautiful eyes and she did something that neither of them had expected. she kissed him. She quickly looked away in embarrassment. Link looked down at the river and looked into the distance. "Where does this river lead?" "I don't know. I think this is the same river that comes from the back of the castle. It stretches underneath part of Hyrule Market and leads around the side of the castle. I think it goes around Gerudo Valley, past Lake Hylia and into the desert here. Lets just follow it back to Hyrule Field." Zelda pulled herself up over the edge of the cliff completely and looked around. The large broken tree shrouded them from sight very well. She looked back into Link's bright blue eyes with her own, only to find him staring upwards into the slightly darkening sky. Everything seemed to get dark all of a sudden. "What's going on Link?" Zelda rushed over to him and grabbed his arm. He looked down at the girl and sighed as he pointed upwards. "Is Ganondorf attacking again?" "No. It's the planet that Ganondorf summoned to kill us all with. Sometimes it is hard to see because both of our atmospheres are mixing together. The sun is beginning to move to the west, causing the planet to cast a shadow down on this half of us. I imagine we will have half the amount of daylight we used to have if it stays this way in our orbit." Link looked down and sighed. Zelda seemed to be in shock. "What are we to do? We can't stop something of this magnitude. Any time he wants he can just drop it on us can't he?" Zelda shook her head with frustration. Link tried to comfort her by consoling his arms around her but it didn't work. She lightly began to sob on his arm. "I can't bel-" Zelda was cut off without warning by a loud blast in the sky. It rocketed through they're ears like nothing they had ever heard. The ripping shockwave of sound reverberated between the two planets violently in an array of emanating heat. They looked up to see the source of the horrible sound and found two black objects shooting through the atmosphere, which the two planets now shared. Previously, there had been too many clouds to recognize any surface features but now the clouds had begun to billow away. Becoming visible was a massive, circular structure, covered with glowing lights. The hub was black and seemed to be made in the shape of a pie. It had several slices that all pointed inward, towards a large infrastructure. Along the outer rim were several large pots that contained green and blue smoke. It was utterly amazing. The seeming castle, to them, was so close that they could see every twinkling light and every burst of smoke. They're new interests were the sleek, black objects that had erupted from the sky above.or below. They weren't sure which to decide. Link and Zelda tucked away underneath the large tree and hid from view completely. They watched as the two strange machines hovered in the sky only about a hundred yards away and slowly halted to the ground below. They were long and black and had stealthy wings that were inverted from the rear. A long, blue smoke trail slowly dissipated from the path they had taken as the loud humming died from within the machines. They had sleek, silver windows that were rounded off and underneath and to the sides the machine contained what looked like weaponry. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. The silver windows popped up suddenly and slid backwards inside the machine. Emerging from each apparent vehicle were two interesting figures. Both climbed down a small ladder that opened from the side of the machine and met up in front of the landing zone. The grassy plain faded into the desert in the distance it seemed as one of them stared off into the heat stricken horizon. The men conversed in low tones that the duo hiding could not comprehend. Link and Zelda took this time to study them. The taller man was only ahead by an inch and had long silver hair that flowed down to his calves. Rustling with his long hair in the wind was a long, leather coat that was tightened at his waist with a small silver buckle. His strong arms filled out the arms of the coat well as did the rest of his muscular frame. He was not bulky like Fierce Deity but his muscles were very definitive, even through the long coat and black trousers he wore beneath. His black trousers were slightly loose around his half hidden legs and were tucked into a pair of tall fighting boots that came to his knees. Two silver straps tightened them perfectly around his legs. As he slightly moved out of the shadow of the ship Link could tell that he had no shirt on, only leather straps crisscrossed across his muscular chest, and covered mostly by the open front of the coat. Covering his shoulders were four silver plates that were tightened securely by the leather straps that were across his chest. The straps hooked onto a large metal belt that covered half of his stomach and attached to his fighting pants. It was engraved with a strange symbol. Finally, on his wrists were heavy silver armlets that tightened his black fighting gloves to his hands. Suddenly the two men looked over at they're hiding place and whispered to each other. They walked over sternly with what seemed like snobby pride. They stopped about six yards away and glanced at each other. The man beside the slightly taller one had black hair that fell down his back in large spikes. His shiny hair, which fell to his waist, seemed like a spiky mane. The young man had one large bang that fell around the side of his face with a smaller one that went down past his chin. The man beside him had two long silver bangs that covered up the sides of his face completely if you looked directly at him. Link glanced back at the younger man and studied him. He wore a blue, sleeveless ski sweater, with blue fabricated fighting pants just like his friend's. The pants were connected to a belt just like the other man's only it had a different symbol. The leather straps acted as suspenders, attaching to the belt and securing his shoulder bangles tightly. The gray metal of the bangles was scratched and worn and had two-inch pillars that protruded from them. The man had a strong frame just like the silver haired man. Attached to his forearms were heavy, metal armlets that resembled the bangles on his shoulders. They connected to his fighting gloves, which were secured at the wrist by silver fasteners. His blue pants were fastened to his leg, just above the brown combat boots that he wore. The boots didn't have laces, and unlike the metal fasteners of the other man's fighting boots, his had a large metal zipper that secured them tightly to his legs. The most impressive feature about his attire was the massive sword he had sheathed on his back. The shiny, black, blade was about ten inches wide and had two cylindrical holes punched in the base of the blade. The handle base was large, and the metal was very finely crafted, as was the blade. The handle was almost a foot long and was made of a dark wood. It had a small golden cap at the end of the hilt that glinted in the small amount of light that was now in the area. His glowing purplish eyes were startling in the slowly settling darkness. "Come out." the insistent tone of the black clad warrior's voice erupted. Link looked into his eyes through the deep leaves and was startled at the catlike pupils and glowing emerald tint to them. How did they know they were in there? The leaves were so thick. "I won't say it again before we attack." Link froze and looked at Zelda. She tucked backwards into the leaves further with fear in her eyes. He gripped his Master Sword handle tightly with his left hand and leapt out of the fallen tree with it ready to guard. Before he even emerged, the younger black haired man whipped the massive, black blade from his back and rushed forward with blinding speed. The two sharp blades clashed together with an array of red sparks as both young men thrashed again three more times before hitting the ground. Link noticed that his powerful gauntlets weren't helping him much. The spike haired guy didn't look any stronger than any other guy but he struck with such power that Link was amazed. Link, annoyed by the dual, back-flipped quickly away from the younger man. He gritted his teeth and flared outward with a raze of Din's Fire. Both men took the blow without guard but weren't affected at all as the globe of flame dissipated. Link sighed. Who were these guys? He'd never seen anyone withstand a blow like that. "Who are you? If you try to hurt my home I will kill you both." "We aren't here to hurt you, unless you are the cause of this planetary crash course." The older, yet still young, man spoke in his sharp voice again. His long, straight hair flowed behind him like a river of molten silver. The lights shined off of it ominously as he stood against the small light reflecting from the planet above. Link shook his head. "The person who caused this is known as Ganondorf, King of Evil. He is a man of a desert people but he has been consumed by evil over his years as a sorcerer. He has taken the reign as the king of evil during the past seven years. I defeated him about a year ago but he has arisen since. He gained extreme power in his new crusade and used his magic to envelope your planet with a magical shield. He has the power to pull it towards our planet and can destroy us with it, as well as the inhabitants of your planet itself." Link eased his sword slightly, as did the black haired man his massive, black, blade. "Uh huh. Well, anyway, my name is Sephiroth. This is my personal student, Zack. I am the Top Officer of a military force known as SOLDIER. Zack is second in command below me. We would like to help stop this menace you speak of," Sephiroth crossed his arms and looked over at Zack. "How many men do you have," Zack brushed his hair back and looked at Link with his glowing purple eyes. They weren't as striking as the other warrior's but the interesting glow really interested him. Zelda suddenly walked out of the leaves of the tree and was met by cold gazes from the newcomers. "We were wondering why you didn't come out." "We don't have many men left. Ganondorf could easily crush us now if he tried hard enough. I can only pray that we have enough." Link walked over to Zelda and put his arms around her to give her warmth in the cold, wet state of her body. Sephiroth and Zack looked at each other and seemed to have a small conversation without even opening they're mouths. Link brushed it off but was snapped back to attention as Sephiroth turned to them and spoke. "I was worried about this. By the way, who are you two," the calm fighter asked with a slight squint. Link studied his features before replying. He was young, quite handsome. His smooth long hair and sharp features gave him a pretty boy look, but Link knew that he was a seasoned fighting expert. It was as if he could see it in his face. He himself was a seasoned warrior. Zack seemed a little too young and eager to be as acknowledged as them. Zelda eyed both of them with a keen eye, but Link held back his slight jealousy with a quick reply. They weren't any competition to him, Link thought to himself. "My name is Link, the Hero of Time. This is the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda. Now what do you mean this is bad?" Link crossed his arms and awaited his reply. A light breeze cut through the small valley and caressed through all of their long hair. Sephiroth sighed. "This is bad because there is a war waging on my planet right now between Shinra, the capital of the world, and Wutai, the rebellion ninja faction. We need most of our forces to withstand Wutai." Sephiroth glanced back at the black objects that he and Zack had arrived in. Zelda and Link followed. "So you are saying you would bring some of your men here to help us fight?" Link arched an eyebrow, unsure whether it would be good to bring unusual warriors into Hyrule. Zack nodded slightly at the conception. "I can probably manage about two thousand of my men I suppose. What do you say Zack, a thousand Third Class SOLDIERs, and five hundred of both Second and First Class?" Sephiroth climbed up into the seat inside the black bird he flew in and looked down at Zack and the others who were about four feet below him. "That should be enough. Probably won't decrease our fighting abilities in the war. I'll stay here while you go and choose them." Zack saluted sharply to his friend and commander and glanced over at the duo behind him. Link and Zelda just stared with curiosity. "I'll be back in about an hour with two thousand SOLDIERs, armed and ready at command. We will be landing in the middle of the big field that is East of here so be ready." Sephiroth flipped several switches in his machine and disappeared as the glass window slid over him. There was a loud hum as the machine lifted off and blasted through the atmosphere like some kind of rocket. Link and Zelda watched in curiosity as the blue stream of steam was left behind the black vehicle. "What are those things?" Zelda glanced over at the other one while Zack walked towards it. Zack raised an eyebrow and turned. He glanced at they're attire and took the hint that they were not as industrialized as his planet. The duo waited for an answer. "On our planet we have advanced equipment that is state of the art." Zack patted the hard black steel of the machine with his gloved hand. "This is one of our military's fastest airships, Skylancer. It has guns that can eject from these armored plates and fire upon enemies at our will. We typically only use it for special operations and only First Class SOLDIERs have the skills to fly them." "Interesting, my horse does me just fine but whatever floats your boat I guess. So how does this military system of yours work? What is this Class thing you guys talk about? Is it your form of rank or what," Link asked as he walked around the Skylancer and looked at Zack from the rear of the ship's powerful engine boosters. Zack nodded before replying. "Yeah, Third Class of SOLDIER is a fairly low rank, but they are only trainees to SOLDIER. Second Class is a difficult class to rank in because you can't mess up once or you get demoted to Third again. You have to pass at least twenty majors at Shinra University with at least a Master's degree, and you have to master all of your special skills and fighting styles based upon your weapon of choice. If you complete that and get an A on the final exam you are only considered for initiation into SOLDIER First-Class. After that Hell you have to impress your higher ranking commander with your fighting skills in a one-on- one battle." "Pretty deep stuff. Our military is based upon occupation. The basic ones are Squire's, the trainees, Knights, the higher ranked swordsmen, Lancers, spearmen, and Archers, our long- range fighters. There are commanders of each class and a single General named Rile. I'm not a part of the military but my rank is higher of everyone else's," Link almost gloated. He was prideful of being the Hero of Time. "Why is that? What did you do that was so special," Zack pressed a button inside the cockpit of his Skylancer to open a storage compartment and reached inside. His strong hand came out with a linen bag filled with assorted items. He began filling the pockets on his belt with potions, small glowing orbs, and small medicine bottles. "Save the world?" "As a matter of fact, yes. I stopped Ganondorf a year ago and I just saved the land of Termina from destruction only months ago. I was only a grain in the sands of time, chosen to be the destined Hero of Time." Link tinged with pride. Zack raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Righty-o," he brushed his hair back with one hand and let out a long breath. He was better looking though, Zack thought to himself as he noticed princess Zelda studying his muscular frame. "Well, I'm going to fly over to that big field and wait on General Sephiroth to get back. Oh yeah, and a few words of advice, don't piss off Seph right now man. He is very stressed about this war going on with Wutai and his fuse is burning quickly." "Its Hyrule Field, the majority of our kingdom lies there. Land your ships between the river and the ranch in the middle of the field. General Rile and Link will meet you there to help build a camp." Zelda smiled and motioned for Link to use his Ocarina of Time to transport them back to the castle. Link nodded, just remembering the useful transportation technique. Zack saluted and readied his Skylancer fighter jet. 


	12. Part 12

Note: All characters, titles, and ideas are copyright of they're rightful owners, Nintendo, and Squaresoft  
  
Everything was calm when they reached the castle. Link's blonde hair drifted in the wind as he carried Zelda, who had grown tired, into her room and laid her down to rest. She was so beautiful. Beautiful blonde hair, falling past her waist, such a beautiful sight. He lightly kissed her on the forehead and glanced at the window. He locked the window with a metal bolt and placed a bombchu on the ledge so that no one would sneak in alive. He walked towards the door and headed down the dark staircase leading to the king's chamber. King Hyrule was sitting at the far end of a long dinner table thoughtfully nibbling on a fried chicken leg. His gray hair outlined his rosy face in a beard, adding to the radiance of his bright, yet tired eyes. He finished the portion of the large meal and wiped his hands on a silk napkin, embroidered with intertwining Triforce symbols. It was a beautiful symbol. Outlined with gold, it was the epitome of appreciation. Link paid no mind to it. He knelt next to the king's right hand and awaited his dismissal. "Hello Link, please, have a seat. Help me eat some of this abundant meal, please," the king offered graciously with a wave over the hefty dinner. It consisted of three chicken legs, a large bowl of mashed potatoes, peas, broiled frog eyes, and steak. Link slowly picked at the meal with the king. He hadn't eaten since lunch the day before and was getting quite hungry. "So what is the news my boy?" "I saved your daughter today. I infiltrated Ganondorf's temple and nabbed her. You already knew that though." Link muttered. "Yes. Impa told me before leaving today. My highest gratitude Hero of Time. Thank you. But what else is bugging you?" The king stopped eating and wiped the corners of his mouth with the silken napkin. "Impa left? Where did she go?" Link glanced up quickly with curiosity. His bright eyes seemed shocked. "She wanted to be with her people so she made her way to Kakariko Village today. She felt useless here since Princess Zelda was gone and the thought of you going off and getting killed trying to save her probably didn't help any. She will probably return if conditions get worse." The king scooped up some peas and ate them with an instant as he finished his explanation. "What is it that is bugging you though? There must be a reason you're here. and so thoughtful." "When we were on our way back we encountered two men from the planet above. They're names were Sephiroth and Zack. They were odd and had advanced equipment and vehicles. I got into a fight with the younger one, Zack, and found him to be incredibly skilled. I can only imagine what the other guy could do." Link pulled his gauntlets tight into his grip and looked up at the king. "They offered to help us by bringing in two thousand of they're men to add to our forces. I accepted." "You accepted another military to come to our kingdom?" The king's eyes widened as he interpreted what the young man had just told him. "Are you sure they won't switch sides on us?" "Yes, I am sure. They will be arriving in about thirty minutes. Rile and I are supposed to meet them in the field and help them build camp outside the castle. They seem very powerful and helpful." Link sighed. "I can only pray that they are as good as they seem." "This is wonderful!" The king laughed lightly to himself, his belly shaking with each chuckle. "Ganondorf will not stand a chance against us if we have two thousand more fighters; especially advanced fighters. Go get general Rile and get ready to meet them." "Yes your majesty." Link nodded and smiled to himself. He turned and started for the door, armor gleaming. His white tunic seemed to glow in the fiery light from the braziers as he passed them. The small rush of air caused the whipping balls of fire to kneel at his presence. "Oh, and after everything is completed I would like to meet with the leader of these fighters. I haven't ever met with any outsiders before." the king wiped his mouth off with the silk napkin as he spoke. Link nodded and rushed towards the General's quarters to summon him.  
  
Zack kicked back inside his Skylancer, windshield ejected so he could see the beautiful scenery of his own planet above. Lights twinkled everywhere, almost like constellations of the cities he had once visited in SOLDIER. It was an unfamiliar sight. You couldn't see stars from Midgar. The lights and mako were too thick to even see the atmosphere. Everything was beautiful. "It really makes you stop and think." Zack brushed his hair from his eyes and darted his eyes at all of the twinkling lights above. "I never imagined that this is what the outside of our planet would be like. And then there is this beautiful land of Hyrule. Untainted. Pure. I wish I could stay here." The clouds, which were mixed together in a beautiful array of morning dew and rainbows, suddenly erupted with a fleet of Skylancers and Highwind transport airships. Zack leapt out of his airship and glided to the ground like a hovercraft. As he looked around he saw two men heading towards him in the distance. One was Link and the other must have been the General, but Zack wasn't watching closely enough to even care as he stood in front of the landing zone. There were five hundred Skylancers, each one owned personally by the First Class SOLDIER flying it. There were fifty- five Highwind transports left gliding in the center of them all. General Sephiroth climbed out of his Skylancer and made a hand signal to all of the First Class men. Instantaneously, all five hundred of the high ranked SOLDIERs ejected they're windshields and climbed out. "What the hell.are these guys?" General Rile scratched the stubble of his beard and glanced at Link questioningly. Link shook his head and looked over at Sephiroth, who was standing several feet in front of him. The man was giving orders at a normal tone of voice, not even recognizable to such a large crowd. All of the men seemed to understand each order with perfect perception. "I thought you had actual 'men', not robots." Link glanced at the SOLDIERs who had lined up on either side of the long- haired General. Sephiroth glanced back coolly, his hair drifting in the slight breeze that constantly seemed to blow between they're planets. "Victor, take off your helmet for a minute," Sephiroth nudged the man to show the Kokiri warrior his true identity. As the helmet came off, strands of long blonde hair flowed from behind his head. They shimmered beautifully as they draped past his midriff. His long bangs resembled Sephiroth's but were softer and outlined his face rather than draping over it. Reflecting off of the locks of hair next to his face were two shiny, glowing eyes. The intensity burned in a small ring around his pupil with a yellowish red tone. Rile was taken aback by the odd looking eyes, which glowed with mako. The attention was suddenly diverted to the dismissal of one thousand five hundred SOLDIERs from the Highwind transports. Each one was dressed according to rank. Second Class wore dark blue armored uniforms, Third Class wore a maroon colored uniform, while the First Class was assigned black armored uniforms which were very impressive looking. Each of the First Class uniforms had a sleek, black helmet, full frontal, back, shoulder, forearm, and hand protection. They each lined up according to rank in front of the fleet of Skylancers and saluted, holding they're position without the slightest twitch. Link glanced back over as the First Class, Victor, put his helmet beck on. Link didn't notice that the SOLDIER had waited exactly one minute before reequipping it. He tucked his shimmering blonde hair into the back of the uniform and stood at attention. Zack walked up behind Sephiroth and stood next to him before the brigade. Sephiroth turned to the General and Link. "This is a small portion of SOLDIER. The guys in the black next to me are First Class. They're ranks descend. Victor and Ashley are the troop leaders of First Class SOLDIER." As he motioned to each of them he patted each on the broad shoulder plates that armored they're shoulders. A thick clicking noise rang out as his armor bracelets collided with they're shoulders. "All decisions, when Zack and I are not around, are verified by them. I already informed everyone that they are to take orders from you or General.what was your name? " "Rile. It's good to meet you Mr. Sephiroth. My greatest gratitude to fight alongside you and your army," the military leader of Hyrule reached out to shake hands with the black clad man. The light from the planet above reflected off of his worn, silver gauntlets as a strong hand shook quickly and turned to his men with a nod. "We will begin setting up camp north of here. Victor, tell the Highwind pilots to dock the ships outside of the castle so we can begin unloading materials. Ashley, come with us while we figure things out." Sephiroth turned to Zack, Link, and Rile as Victor walked off speaking into a transmitter inside his helmet. "While they are unloading the materials we can get things figured out." "Yeah. Lets go back to the castle and meet with the King." Link and Rile turned, the SOLDIERs following them closely. Link's white tunic ruffled as he walked, much like Sephiroth's coat as he took stride after stride. "When do you think Ganondorf will attack again," Zack asked with a brush of his hand through his hair. Rile looked back with a discerning look and looked up at the sky. "Whenever a storm begins to brew you will know. He always attacks within the arrival of storms. Everything seems clear for the time being but it often changes with the drop of a pin." Rile pointed to the sky and shook his head. "That's odd. We should hurry and get this camp constructed before he decides to ambush us. Ashley, go ahead and help them while we meet with the king." Sephiroth looked over to the area that the camp would be made at and nodded at Ashley. The SOLDIER saluted and headed towards the site. "We examined the topography of your land from a telescope on our planet and are going to set a large metal wall around the corner of your moat and the river that flows out of the castle. It will keep anyone from getting in and will provide enough room for our men to stay." Zack informed of they're plans as the group headed towards the kingdom tall kingdom walls in the distance. "Sounds like a plan." Link replied as he looked up at the darkening sky. The hours were so different since the summoning of the planet. He didn't think he would ever get used to the quick changes in daylight. The two SOLDIERs carefully examined everything that they walked past. They had obviously never seen anything like this before. Link could only imagine what they're planet was like. They seemed very interested in the castle as the headed through the market. People stared at the strange men with curiosity as they passed through, following the Hero of Time. As they made it around the bend the sunlight seemed to brighten slightly and the shade of darkness quickly began to fade. "Its strange. With our planets so close together, the hours are shorter and the sunlight comes at odd intervals. Very interesting indeed." Sephiroth brushed his silvery hair back and directed his beautiful blue green eyes to the cloudless blue sky. "So is your king a nice guy? Do you think he is going to mind having us help you?" "Of course, he's a great guy. He is grateful for your support. He also is interested in the fact that you are aliens." Link glanced back as they walked along the worn trail leading to the castle. They gave narrow glances. "Aliens? We're humans dude. Aliens are gross slimy creatures." Zack gave his opinion bluntly as usual. "You are human? We're human too. You can't be human! You don't have pointy ears, and your eyes glow." Link stopped and looked at them with squinted eyes. His blonde bangs drifted in the wind as he studied them carefully. The duo raised an eyebrow and shook they're heads. "Same goes for you. We are humans on our world and we don't have pointy ears. The reason our eyes glow is a long complicated story that you would not understand very well. It has to do with advanced technology on our planet. Sephiroth walked with Link to the castle. "Tell me more about this Ganondorf." "Ganondorf is an evil sorcerer that gained the power of the Triforce of Power. Triforce is a sacred emblem left by the gods of Hyrule when they left. Triforce of Power, which Ganondorf possesses, Triforce of Wisdom, which Zelda has, and Triforce of Courage, which I have, are the three areas of the emblem. After Ganondorf obtained his, he took over this kingdom and became ruler. Traveling through time, seven years into the future, I defeated him and banished him to the realm of evil." Link sighed remembering, as he had many times before, the terrible strife of saving Hyrule. The images of the monsters he had barely defeated and the rancid temples he had trekked through haunted back to him. "So he is really powerful then, I take it.?" Sephiroth asked as Link took a breath. He sighed, thinking of all the powerful people he had fought in his days. "Very. Anyway, he has escaped the realm and obtained the power of an evil spirit known as Majora. He has then used its power to pull your planet towards us. His motives for doing this are unclear right now, but soon enough we will find out why." Link finished. "I see.do you think he will attack us today?" "No clue. He attacks randomly. It is impossible to kill his army too. most of them aren't even alive to begin with." Link sighed, exasperated by realization of all that had happened. They kept on walking through the castle until they reached the king's café. There were two knights dueling it out with broadswords in a small arena in the middle of the room. Link walked towards the king, who was joyfully watching the miniature battle before him. "Your majesty. This is Sephiroth, the hero of the planet that Ganondorf has summoned. He has ordered his army to aid us in our quest to stop him." Link said to the king, who was eyeing the silver haired man suspiciously. His face went happy once again when Link finished. "Thank you. Sephiroth was it? My age is catching up with me I suppose. Anyhow, I am thankful for your support in this ordeal. The Hylian army cannot stand to Ganondorf's attacks for much longer." The old man chuckled and started up from his seat. Sephiroth and Link helped him up and stood by his side as he headed towards his room. Two knights kept a close distance away the entire time. Sephiroth didn't know if they were protecting the king, or just keeping an eye on Zack and him. "It is my pleasure sir. My planet is also in danger. I could not stand by and watch as it was destroyed. I hope to make both our lands safe once again." Sephiroth replied. "Oh, and this is my personal student, Zack. He is second in command of SOLDIER when I am not around." "Pleased to meet you your majesty." Zack bowed slightly at the king's acknowledgement and received a nod of approval. "Same to you Knight Zack," the king responded with a warm smile and continued on towards his room. Zack raised an eyebrow at Sephiroth, having been called 'knight' but otherwise ignored the slight mistake. "An old man is growing weary in the day. I am retiring for the evening. or day. or whatever it is right now. Damned hours and mixing me all up." "It's growing evening again sire. The sun is beginning to pass over the gap between the planets. Depending on the position of the moon we could possible have a pitch- black night or a dark blue ray from the reflection." Sephiroth replied quickly with his hypothesis. It seemed to clear things up for the others who were also curious. The king nodded and headed into his room to rest. "Your pretty smart man." Link turned after shutting the door. Sephiroth shrugged. The silver armor plates made a sliding sound as he moved his strong shoulders. He turned towards the exit with the other two and glanced out the window as he started forward. "No big deal. I got a master's degree in astronomy and stellar theory at Shinra University," he replied. Zack snuffed slightly at the comment. "You got a master's degree in every course at the school."  
  
The night had fallen and the moon, reflecting beautiful blue rays into the space between the planets, looked almost like a blackened sun, peeking over the edge of the horizon. SOLDIERs of every class rushed about beneath the scenery to construct they're encampment. Victor and Ashley stood about over a large table that was painted with blue prints. They had removed they're helmets and were dressed in they're normal SOLDIER uniforms. Victor shook his head in annoyance, "we don't have enough supplies." "Your right. We're going to have to go back and get more," Ashley flipped his jet-black hair back, which much resembled Zack's spiky style. His glowing hazel eyes reflected off of the sharp bangs that draped from his hairline. "No. That will take too long, and plus, if we go back, Shinra might order us to stay and fight." Link led the group outside the castle gates as the operation was slowing down. Sephiroth and Zack frowned. The breeze cut past them lightly as they took step after step towards the main operations tent. Sephiroth looked around and ducked inside of the operation's tent. "What's wrong? Why isn't the camp up yet?" "We ran out of supplies general. My only guess is that a few regiments back home took some supplies by another officer's command." Victor crossed his arms after saluting and nodding to the others. His fiery eyes glowed ominously as they met the powerful Top Officer's blue- emerald ones. Ashley jumped into the conversation with a disgruntled clearing of his throat. His mildly deep voice broke the falling silence. "Where are we going to station at? There is no point in even trying to finish the encampment. Our most important supplies aren't here." "I know Ash," Sephiroth's crisp tone cut in like a dagger. "I'm going to have to split everyone into squadrons." "You can stay in the Hyrule Market like all the other knights, you know? It's no big deal. You're just going to have to mingle with the townsfolk and the Hylian army." Link chimed in with a click of his golden gauntlets to his breastplate. "There's plenty of room for all of you to stay." "I hate barging in unwelcome. You're sure your king will not care?" Sephiroth glanced over at Link with a slight sigh. His eyes looked uncomfortable. He hated depending on people. That's why he liked it when people depended on him. "Its no problem at all. We can accommodate your brigade as long as needed. You are more than welcome in Hyrule," Rile nodded at the other's indifference and rubbed his beard with one hand. His worn armor glinted in the lantern light hanging from the black ceiling. "We can set up for your arrival immediately. I'll go and make reservations at the motels and talk to the king about getting your higher ranked men settled in at the castle." As Rile left the room everyone went silent. Sephiroth grabbed a transmitter and walked outside of the small tent. He looked around to see how much had been completed. There were only a few of the portable walls put up. The black, metal walls were originally planned to connect at the edge of the moat and the edge of Zora's River but there were only half as many walls as needed. They were crucial to setting up the camp because all of the smaller buildings and tents connected to the walls like a network. "Start disassembling the base and loading the pieces on the Highwind transports. We don't have enough to finish it all. Second and Third Class will be moved to the Hyrule Market beyond the castle walls and First Class will be stationed directly within the castle." "Everyone meet at the front gates of the castle moat after completion of disassembly." Sephiroth sighed and glanced at Zack. The group walked off towards the gates to wait. SOLDIERs moved about in every direction, following their orders. 


End file.
